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REVIEWED: MacBook Pro iPod Hi-Fi iWork ’06 117

MAY
2006

A B E T T E R M A C H I N E . A B E T T E R M A ¬ A Z I N E .

■ Mind-Blowing Next year,


Processing Power! 5 years,
■ All Movies Always
Available!
10 years, and
■ Pay-as-You-Go beyond!
Software!
■ Every Virus
Annihilated!

REVIEWED:
KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE C
B Corel Painter
Essentials 3
B The Sims 2 University
...and 17 more
HOW TO:
B Podcast Like a Pro
! B Bend iWeb to Your Will
PLUS B Prettify a Page with
BACK iWork’s Pages

IT UP!
Expert tips on how to
protect your precious
files—the easy way!
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06 CONTENTS
a better machine. a better magazine.

40
09 Editors’ Page
We have seen the not-too-distant future, and it’s called Intel
Core Microarchitecture.

10 Get Info
Meet the latest Mac to get Intel-ified: the Mac mini. Plus,
the next phase in Apple’s takeover of your living room, and
a snapshot of the dozens of digicams unveiled at this year’s
Photo Marketing Association trade show.

35 Reviews
54 Digital FM Radio & FM Transmitter for iPod
iPod FM transmitter and receiver
46 EasyShare-One camera
40 Evolt E-500 camera
52 iKey Portable USB Recorder audio recorder
53 iPod Hi-Fi iPod speaker stand
38 iWork ’06 productivity-software suite
36 MacBook Pro notebook Mac
55 Maxelerate external hard drive
55 MiniMax external hard drive
54 Officejet K550 business inkjet printer
42 Painter Essentials 3 painting software
51 Pixma MP950 multifunction printer
49 PowerLite 76c projector
50 Sorenson Squeeze 4.1 media-compression suite 36 49
44 Swift Publisher page-layout app 46 38 51
54 Thin laptop bag
48 Wave Editor audio-editing software

57 Games
57 Black and White 2 tips and tricks
59 ButtKicker Gamer audio-transducer review
59 Games Go Universal Intel-Mac update
59 The Movies coming soon 78 Log Out 79 Contest
57 The Sims 2 University expansion-pack review Wow us with your caption-writing
58 Zoo Tycoon 2 simulation-game review 78 Letters prowess, and you could win a new
This month, readers chime in JBL On Time iPod clock radio.
with strong opinions on the Intel
switch, concern over the recent 80 Shut Down
Mac virus scare, and well-wishes Forget about the Oompa-Loompa
for MacAddict’s visibly ailing virus; here’s the real Mac malware

QUICK TIPS
mascot, Max. you need to watch out for.

FROM THIS MONTH’S ISSUE

BACKUP BACKUP PLUG IT IN THE 0.01 DIFFERENCE DO FEED THE ANIMALS


You don’t have to put all your The first step to take when Unless you want to get crabby You can use Zoo Tycoon 2’s
apps on your bootable backup troubleshooting is so easy, over bugs in Apple’s iLife ’06, first-person mode to give your
drive, but be sure to include you may not even think to try run Software Update before virtual payroll a break—just
your disk-repair utilities—that it: Make sure the power cord you get crafty in iWeb or the assume the
way, you can fix your ailing and any necessary cables other iApps. From “Bend role of a
drive without are properly connected. iWeb to Your Will,” p65. zookeeper,
excessive CD From Ask Us, p60. and get
swapping. down and
From “Back dirty. From
It Up,” p24. Games, p57.

06 May 2006
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08 CONTENTS
a better machine. a better magazine.
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EDITOR IN CHIEF Rik Myslewski

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MANAGING EDITOR Sean Molloy


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FEATURES EDITOR Jake Widman

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HOW-TO EDITOR Niko Coucouvanis


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Every month we review a boatload of products. REVIEWS EDITOR Roman Loyola

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WEB MONKEY Nick Muerdter
And, yeah, we’re the experts and all that, but

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EPONYMEDITOR Max

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your opinion matters, too—so that’s why this

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month’s Disc includes demos and trials of some �������� Shadovitz, Andrew Tokuda, Michelle Victoria, Buz Zoller
of the apps we’ve reviewed, including BeLight ���������� ART ���
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ART DIRECTOR
Software’s Swift Publisher (reviewed on p41) and ����������������� ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Peter Marshutz

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Audiofile Engineering’s Wave Editor (p48). Bonus: ������������������� GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dan Fitzpatrick
PHOTOGRAPHER Mark Madeo
The Disc also contains a trial of the just-released


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CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Samantha Berg

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Corel Painter IX.5 and 84 more killer apps!

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BUSINESS

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PUBLISHER Bernie Lanigan, 646-723-5405

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Dave Lynn, 949-360-4443

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Bored with shoot-’em- Turn your photos into The Web can be a wild
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NATIONAL SALES MANAGER, ENTERTAINMENT


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Isaac Ugay, 562-983-8018
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this unique, art with this from smut MARKETING DIRECTOR Cassandra Magzamen
MARKETING COORDINATOR Michael Basilio
gorgeous natural- with this fun ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jose Urrutia, 415-656-8313
mind-bender. media app. browser. PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richard Lesovoy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Ryan Meith
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Peter Kelly
AUDIO & MUSIC INTERFACE CopyRoms 0.2 freeware
NEWSSTAND MARKETING MANAGER Bill Shewey
Backstage trial ThemePark 3 demo Déjà Vu 3.2 trial BILLING AND RENEWAL MANAGER Betsy Wong
Daily Guitar Jam Widget DiskTracker 2.3.3 (Classic) NEWSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman
freeware INTERNET & COMMUNICATION shareware FULFILLMENT MANAGER Peggy Mores
FretPet X 1.0.2 shareware Advanced Link Manager 2 trial DiskTracker 2.3.3 (OS X) DIRECT-MAIL MANAGER Stephanie Blake
DIRECT MARKETING SPECIALIST Janet Amistoso
iFill demo browseback 1.0.2 trial shareware
iPod.iTunes 3.1.3 demo Bumper Car 2 demo Font Pilot 2.1 trial FUTURE US, INC.
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Menuet 1.0.2 trial Camino freeware iKey 2.2 shareware www.futureus-inc.com
Tera 3.1 demo Captain FTP 4.4.5 trial Impression 3 trial PRESIDENT Jonathan Simpson-Bint
Wave Editor 1.1.5 trial DashCast freeware IOXperts Webcam Driver 1.1 VICE PRESIDENT/CFO Tom Valentino
Google Sitemap Automator 1.1 trial VICE PRESIDENT/CIRCULATION Holly Klingel
DEVELOPMENT trial GENERAL COUNSEL Charles Schug
KMremoteControl 1.52 trial
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/GAMES Simon Whitcombe
REALbasic 2006 Release 1 iTwist n’ Go trial Mac Pilot 2.0.3 trial PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/MUSIC & TECH Steve Aaron
demo OmniWeb 5.1.3 trial MacVCD X trial PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Dave Barrow
pagesender 3.5.4 trial Mini vMac 2.7.1 freeware EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/TECHNOLOGY Jon Phillips
FUN & GAMES PictoGrab 1.1 trial Morse Mania 3.2 shareware EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/MUSIC Brad Tolinski
3D Bridge Deluxe demo DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL SERVICES Nancy Durlester
SeaMonkey freeware Name Those Files shareware
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
Alien Abduction demo Simon 2.1.1 trial NuFile 1.8 donationware
Antigen freeware Snak 5.1 shareware Picture Rescue 1.1 demo Future US, Inc. is part of
Blackjack Card Counter 3 SpamSweep 1.2 shareware Power Manager 3.2 demo Future PLC
demo wKiosk 4.5 demo Safe Terminal 0.3 freeware Future produces carefully targeted
special-interest magazines for people
Downfall 2.5.7 trial Xyle scope 1.1.6 trial SuperDuper 2 trial who share a passion. We aim to satisfy
Enigmo 2 demo TechRestore Demo Video that passion by creating titles offering
Gem Shop demo PRODUCTIVITY TidyUp 1.0.9 shareware value for money, reliable information,
Kid Mystic demo High Priority 1.11 trial Undercover 1.5 demo smart buying advice and which are
pluzzle freeware iClock 3 shareware a pleasure to read. Today we publish more than 150 magazines in
USB Overdrive 10.4.5 shareware
the US, UK, France and Italy. Over 100 international editions of our
Professor Fizzwizzle demo KeyCue 2.0.1 trial World Clock Deluxe 4.3 magazines are also published in 30 other countries across the world.
ToySight Gold 1.1.2 demo Liquid Ledger 1.5.1 trial shareware Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange
NoteBook 2.3.3 demo XPostFacto 4 freeware (symbol: FUTR).
GRAPHICS & MULTIMEDIA OD4Contact 2.6.5 demo FUTURE PLC
Corel Painter IX.5 trial OmniGraffle 4.1.1 trial SPONSORS 30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, BA1 2BW, England
EazyDraw 1.9.0f public beta OmniOutliner 3.5 trial EazyDraw 1.9.0f public beta www.futureplc.com
EazyDraw 1.9.1 demo TaskTime 4.1.2 trial Tel +44 1225 442244
EazyDraw 1.9.1 demo
NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Roger Parry
Footlights 2 freeware TextWrangler 2.1.1 freeware iFill demo CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Greg Ingham
iScreensaver Designer 3.4 trial TinyBooks 3.0.5 trial NoteBook 2.3.3 demo GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR: John Bowman
iView MediaPro 3.0.2 trial xTime Project 3.5 demo OmniGraffle 4.1.1 trial Tel +44 1225 442244 www.futureplc.com
KnotsBag Pro 1.5.5 shareware OmniOutliner 3.5 trial REPRINTS: For reprints, contact Ryan Derfler, Reprint Operations
MPEG Streamclip 1.5.1 freeware UTILITIES Specialist, 717.399.1900 ext. 167
OmniWeb 5.1.3 trial
or email: futurenetworkusa@reprintbuyer.com
Sproing 2.0.1 freeware BatChmod 1.37 freeware TechRestore Demo Video SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES: Please email mcdcustserv@cdsfulfillment
Swift Publisher 1.2 demo ChronoSync 3.2 demo XPostFacto 4 freeware .com or call customer service toll-free at 888-771-6222.

UPGRADE
If you don’t receive the Disc with your copy of MacAddict, you might want to consider upgrading. Each monthly Disc contains cool
demos, useful shareware and freeware, and an assortment of multimedia goodies. To get 12 issues of MacAddict that include this value-
packed Disc with your subscription (prorated if necessary) for just $1 more per issue, call 888-771-6222—the operator will take care of
everything.

08 May 2006
EDITORS’ PAGE
09

Speed Thrills
Tucked away in a top-secret room
STAFF RANTS
Q. When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
during March’s Intel Developer Forum,
I had my first hands-on demo of the first Roman Loyola RED-EYE REMOVER
When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
desktop microprocessor to be based on When stuff happens instantaneously. No time
Intel’s new Core Microarchitecture—a for flashy window effects or progress bars.
radically speedy approach to chip Select an option and BAM! Done.
design. Currently code-named Conroe, Sean Molloy TACHOPHOBE
this dual-core chip will almost certainly When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
power the machines that Apple will Unfortunately, I probably won’t know until it’s
too late.
introduce later this year to replace the
current Power Mac G5 line. Niko Coucouvanis SPUD RAZOR
When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
Although the performance data I saw compared Conroe to Intel’s As soon as it can cut thousands of julienne
existing top-of-the-line processor, the Pentium D, and not to the fries in seconds, I’ll eat my Ginsu—in that
PowerPC G5, the new chip’s power was readily apparent. Bottom nasty seppuku fall-on-it style. Ouch!
line: Expect impressive machines to emerge from the Apple/Intel Jake Widman TIME-SENSITIVE MATERIAL
partnership. Also, prepare for even more-impressive machines to When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
appear in the future—for example, when Intel ships its quad-core When I don’t even know it’s there—when
my first response to that question is,
desktop chip, code-named Kentsfield, in the first half of next year. “What Mac?”
Oh, and to clear up any confusion that might come from an
Peter Marshutz STRESSED OUT
unfortunate Intel naming decision: The Core Duo chip that powers When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
Apple’s current iMacs, MacBook Pros, and high-end Mac mini (the Fast enough? Macs will finally be fast enough
low-end Mac mini has a single-core Core Solo) is not based on Intel’s when they can change a diaper and take care
of two toddlers.
zippy new Core Microarchitecture—the current Duos are fine chips
in their own right, but they don’t benefit from all the internal gee- Mark Rosenthal MR. COFFEELESS
whizzery in the upcoming chips. When I asked an Intelian about this When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
When will they be fast enough? They’re too
naming untidiness, he shrugged and said, “Marketing.” fast already! Gone are the days when I could
In other news: If you’re one of the vast majority of our readers apply Photoshop’s Ripple filter to a 10MB
image file and then run out for a cup of coffee
who receive our monthly Disc, you’ll notice a couple of changes this while my Mac churned away. Now there are no excuses for
month. For one, we’ve retired the Disc Tour interface. It was getting breaks—just work, work, work.
a bit long in the tooth and becoming increasingly unstable in its
Max VELOCIMACTOR
dotage. Plus, it was simply taking up too much room—room that we When will a Mac finally be fast enough for you?
can now fill with more apps, games, and utilities than ever. When I can instantaneously perform a
Also, we now indicate whether each app on the Disc is Universal complex Photoshop Action while ray-tracing
a complex 3D animation in real time while
(able to run natively on Intel-based Macs), and we’ve added a new engaged in an 10-way iChat video conference
Media folder in which you’ll find a monthly collection of videos, while playing multiplayer Doom 3 at a frame rate of over
300 in a seamlessly resizable window, then I might be
tunes, podcasts, and more. (Yeah, it’s a bit sparse this inaugural satisfied. Maybe.
month, but we’ve got big plans…) Finally, you’ll notice more places
for the friendly folks who keep us afloat to announce their wares.
You’ve got rent to pay, right? So do we.

Enjoy,

comingsoon:june2006
Here’s what our editors are preparing for the next issue of MacAddict.
We’ll solve all your ’Pod problems and teach it tricks you didn’t know it could do, then take you on a tour of San Francisco as
we show you how to make a home video your friends will actually want to watch. Our Field Guide will spell out the problem-
solving steps to take when faced with common technical glitches. We’ll then show you how to use the slick new features in
Photoshop Elements 4, how to use iWeb efficiently without hosting your site on .Mac, and how to set up a NAS (network
attached storage) system to access your files from home or abroad. We’ll also put the new Intel Mac minis to the test and
look at Autodesk’s Combustion 4, NEC’s slick MultiSync 20WMGX2 display, Olive’s Musica, and more.

May 2006 09
10
the news of the month in bite-size chunks

Make room on the Intel bandwagon—

THAT’S
the Mac mini is now along for the ride.

ENTERTAINMENT!
Apple sets its sights on your home entertainment center with its new Intel-based
Mac mini and iPod Hi-Fi speaker stand.

T
he invitation to Apple’s latest for notebook computers. Considering the use interface for accessing your music,
new-stuff unveiling promised tight quarters inside the Mac mini, these videos, DVDs, and photos. Front Row
“fun new products.” And while chips are a perfect fit. now allows you to access shared media
the new products—Intel-based Both Mac minis come standard from other Macs over a wireless
Mac minis, the iPod Hi-Fi, and leather with 512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM or Wi-Fi network using Bonjour.
iPod cases—aren’t exactly barrels-of- (expandable to 2GB), an Intel GMA For example, if you set iTunes to
monkeys-level fun, they’re interesting graphics processor that uses 64MB of share your music over a network
enough. The intro of the Mac mini leaves memory (shared with the mini’s main (iTunes > Preferences >
only the Power Mac and the iBook lines memory), Gigabit Ethernet, built-in Sharing), you
left to be Intel-ified, and the iPod Hi-Fi Airport Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0, four USB
brings the iPod one step closer to the 2.0 ports, one FireWire 400 port, one
center of your home entertainment hub. optical/analog audio-in port, one
Mac mini. Except for a new set of rear optical/analog audio-out port, a DVI-
ports and an IR port located next to the out port for a display (VGA adapter
disc slot, the physical look and feel of included) or TV (composite/S-Video
the Mac mini hasn’t changed—that’s adapter sold separately for $19),
good. But a lot has changed inside. and an infrared Apple Remote to use
The $599 1.5GHz Mac mini features with Front Row. The 1.5GHz Mac mini
an Intel Core Solo processor, which comes with a 5,400-rpm 60GB SATA
IMAGES COURTESY OF APPLE

has a single-processor core. The Core hard drive and a combo drive, while
Duo found in the $799 1.66GHz Mac the 1.66GHz Mac mini has an 80GB
mini has—you guessed it—two cores, hard drive and 8X SuperDrive with
essentially the equivalent of two double-layer support.
processors in a single chip. Intel touts The Mac minis also come with
both the Core Solo and Core Duo as ideal Front Row, Apple’s elegant, easy-to-

10 May 2006
GET INFO
11

can access those shared songs from What’s missing: video connectors and NEW STUFF
another Mac through Front Row’s Shared USB or FireWire to sync to your Mac.
Music menu. You can also access shared Docking your fifth-generation iPod
videos from iTunes and shared photos or iPod nano in the iPod Hi-Fi gives you
from iPhoto. In the demo we saw, there access to a new Speakers menu with
wasn’t any noticeable performance three settings: Treble Boost, Normal,
lag when accessing shared content and Bass Boost. You can also display Wanted:
wirelessly—but the demo involved full-screen album art and set the big screen for this lil’ projector.
a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro that backlight to remain on while docked
were about 20 feet apart, without any (the iPod charges while docked). 4 PORTABLE PROJECTOR
obstacles between them. When we get Apple demonstrated the iPod Hi-Fi’s XD80U
our Mac mini in for an exhaustive review, sound quality at its Cupertino facility, $1,995
we’ll see how Front Row performs with but we were able to get our hands on an www.mitsubishi-presentations.com
Macs in separate rooms or even on actual iPod Hi-Fi just before we went to Available: Now
different floors. press—after you’re finished reading this Weighing less than three pounds,
iPod Hi-Fi. Everyone else is getting article, flip to page 53 for the full review. this portable XGA (1024 by 768
in on the iPod speaker-stand market, pixels) projector is rated at 1,500
so why not Apple? The difference here ANSI lumens and has a dual color
is that instead of simply providing mode to optimize color for business
a means to play your iPod’s music, presentations or video.
Apple is looking to “redefine the home
stereo system,” according to Apple’s
press release. During the iPod Hi-Fi’s
introduction, Steve Jobs said that as
a self-proclaimed audiophile, he’s
considering replacing his home stereo
with an iPod Hi-Fi. (Hey Steve, feel free
to dump your old home stereo at 4000
Shoreline Ct. in South San Francisco, Creative tools that match your
CA. Send it to Max’s attention.) creativity.
Measuring 17 by 6.6 by 6.9 inches $99 for one of these leather iPod cases?
and weighing 16.7 pounds (with With other leather cases that are just as 4 PRETTY PICTURES
batteries), the $349 iPod Hi-Fi has a nice for half the price, you’re paying a Studio Artist 3.5
pair of 3.1-inch midrange drivers and premium for the Apple and iPod logos. $379
a 5.12-inch woofer—no dedicated www.synthetik.com
tweeters, folks. The power supply What we didn’t see. Were you Available: Now
is built into the unit, so there’s expecting a touchscreen iPod video, This app combines painting and
no separate power brick to hog widescreen iBooks, a Mac-based digital drawing tools with image processing,
counter space or wedge behind your video recorder, or some other dream video effects, and a Paint Synthesizer
entertainment center. You can also product? Then you were probably let that claims to be able to enlarge
power the iPod Hi-Fi with six down by the announcements—many images without visual artifacts.
D batteries. The dock analysts and members of the media
connector comes with sure were. So what should you look 4 TICKLING VIRTUAL IVORIES
adapters so you can for next? In August, Apple is hosting ProKeys 88sx
fit any dockable iPod, its annual Worldwide Developers $449.95
and iPod shuffles can Conference (WWDC), where you can—at www.m-audio.com
connect through a rear minimum—expect a peek at Leopard, Available: Now
audio-in port. The audio- the next version of Mac OS X. That event This light (17-pound) 88-note
in port can also be used might also mark the introduction of the keyboard features semi-weighted
with AirPort Express so Intel-based replacements for the current action, seven piano-sound sets, and
you can play music from Power Mac G5 line. It’s almost certain a USB MIDI interface and controller
your Mac in one room on that they won’t use the Intel Core Duo for recording and playback.
the iPod Hi-Fi in another. processor; instead, they’ll likely harness
the power of an entirely new 64-bit dual-
The iPod Hi-Fi comes with an Apple core processor code-named Conroe—it
Remote so you can navigate through was clear at the Intel Developer Forum 88 keys
your iPod’s controls. in March that progress on that chip is you can carry.
coming along nicely.—Roman Loyola

May 2006 11
v

12 GET INFO
the news of the month in bite-size chunks

DROOLWORTHY • SeaMonkey (free,

What’sNew
>>>>>>>>
Sexy Stuff We Can’t Wait to Get Our Mitts On on the Disc, www
.mozilla.org) is
an Internet suite
that includes a
Web browser,

IMAGE COURTESY OF ART. LEBEDEV STUDIO


email client,
WYSIWYG Web-
page composer,
and IRC chat

WEB & INTERNET


client. For Web
developers, Sea
Monkey includes
mozilla.org’s
DOM inspector
and JavaScript-
debugging tools.
• Shiira (free,
http://hmdt-web
.net/shiira/en)
is a Web browser

Mini Keyboard C
that uses the
KHTML rendering
engine provided
The Optimus mini (price TBD, www.artlebedev.com) is a three-key
by Apple’s Web
keyboard that works with your standard keyboard. Each programmable
Kit—the same
key features a 0.79-by-0.79-inch square OLED panel that displays the
rendering engine
key’s function. Each OLED supports 96-by-96-pixel resolution, five-
SeaMonkey: that Safari uses.
frames-per-second animation, and 262,000 colors. A Mac-compatible
better than • App4Mac’s wKiosk
version is coming Real Soon Now.
brine shrimp. ($69, on the Disc,
www.app4mac
.com) is a Web browser built with
the Safari engine and designed for
public-access terminals and kiosks.
wKiosk can restrict access to Web
sites, system settings, and apps.
• PictoGrab 1.1 ($14.95, on the
Disc, www.radicalbreeze.com) can
download pictures from any Web site
or photocast to a folder on your Mac.
• VisiStat 3 ($14.95 per month, www
IMAGE COURTESY OF KENSINGTON

.visistat.com) is a Web-site traffic-


reporting service. It dynamically
captures visitor activity, search-
engine keyword usage, geographical
location, click path, and more.
• Dejal Systems’ Simon 2.1.1 ($29.95
to $195, on the Disc, www.dejal.com)

Sound Panel C
is a Web-site-monitoring tool that
checks sites for changes or failures. It
notifies you via email, sound, speech,
Kensington’s SX 2000 Speakers for iPod ($159.99, http://us.kensington.com)
or HTML reports.
measure 16.2 by 7.2 by 3.9 inches, are compatible with any iPod with a dock
connector, and feature NXT SurfaceSound to enhance the audio playing from
• Snak 5.1 ($25, on the Disc, www
.snak.com) is an Internet Relay
both the front and back.
Chat (IRC) client
that lets you join ON THE
discussions in IRC DISC
channels online. PictoGrab, SeaMonkey,
Simon, Snak, wKiosk
—Michelle Victoria

12 May 2006
GET INFO
13
BookReview
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bug of the Month


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
DELETE OLD VERSIONS OF APPS

H aving remnant, unused versions of apps on your hard drive can cause a
plethora of problems, the main one being that your documents can open
using the wrong version of an app. For example, if you still have the test-drive
version of Microsoft Word 2004 and you’ve since purchased and installed a full
copy of Office 2004, the test-drive Word may still launch when you double-click
a Word document. Here’s how to get rid of defunct apps.
DELETE APPS If you get rid of an old version of an app you no longer use, Mac OS
Something to read while X will automatically switch to the remaining app by default. You can uninstall an
you’re rockin’ to your ’Pod. app by simply dragging its icon into the Trash. For a more thorough removal that
also wipes out any associated files that may be strewn across your hard drive,
The Cult of iPod use a utility such as AppZapper ($12.95, http://appzapper.com) or Yank ($19.95,

L ike his book The Cult


of Mac ($39.95, www
.nostarch.com), Leander
www.matterform.com/welcome.html).
ARCHIVE AND INSTALL REMNANTS Duplicate apps can also be left over from
an Archive And Install process; these can cause problems in current versions
Kahney’s The Cult of iPod ($24.95, www of apps. To delete old copies of apps left over from an Archive And Install:
.nostarch.com) takes a look at how a 1 Open the Previous System folder at the root level of your hard drive.
single device has become the object 2 Delete the Applications folder therein.
of devotion (or perhaps obsession) 3 Reapply the most-recent Mac OS X combo updater available from Apple’s
for many. The book covers everything Download Web site (www.apple.com/support/downloads).
from the original concept and humble RCDEFAULTAPP Still having problems? Try RCDefaultApp (free, www.rubicode
beginnings to the signature silhouette .com) to specify which app should open files with a certain extension.
ads and the booming iPod-accessory
market. The Cult of iPod’s impressive
images and compelling info do an
excellent job conveying how influential iPOD CASE OF THE MONTH
the iPod is. If you love your ’Pod, you’ll
love this book.—RL

D as Blau’s The Versa


($59.99, www.dasblau
APPLE NIXES FINAL .com) is a case made for a fifth-
generation iPod. Its exterior
CUT À LA CARTE is made of leather, and the

A pple’s Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack


Pro, Motion 2, and DVD Studio Pro
4 are no longer available as separate
fabric inside features flashy
colors and patterns. The belt
loop can also be used with the
apps—you can now only purchase them protective flap to prop your iPod
together in the Final Cut Studio suite up on your desk. Eight different
($1,299, www.apple.com). Apple has designs are available.—MV
special upgrade pricing if you already
have certain pieces of the set. If you own
Final Cut Pro 5, the upgrade to the full
suite costs $99. If you own standalone Honorable Mention
copies of goes to 11-year-
Final Cut Pro old Chris Laples of
4, Final Cut Libertyville, IL for his
HD, Motion 2, iPod mini case made
Soundtrack out of duct tape.
Pro, or DVD Awesome, Chris! Encase your ’Pod in color.
Studio Pro
4, you can
upgrade to the SUBMIT YOUR CASE Whether your iPod case is a custom-made one-off or mass produced, you can
submit it for Case-of-the-Month consideration—just send it to iPod Case of the Month, MacAddict, 4000
You can’t break up this Studio suite
Shoreline Ct., Ste. 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Please note that we cannot return cases.
gang of four. for $199.—RL

May 2006 13
14 GET INFO
the news of the month in bite-size chunks

SHAREWARE PICK
OF THE MONTH
Saft http://haoli.dnsalias.com/saft $12

S aft is a Safari plug-in that adds a


new Sidebar that can contain RSS
feeds, URLs, and scripts. Saft comes
with several premade Sidebar items, but

IMAGE COURTESY OF PANASONIC


you can add your own RSS feed to the
Sidebar using TextEdit.—Andrew Tokuda

The Saft installation disk image


contains premade Sidebar items. Go into
the /Sidebar/Apple folder, Control-click
Apple_hotnews.plugin, and select Show
Panasonic’s new digital SLR shares Package Contents. Open Info.plist in
some of the same components as TextEdit (/Applications/TextEdit).
Olympus’s Evolt E-330.
2 Create a new document in TextEdit and
select Format > Make Plain Text. Copy the
PMA FOCUS: NEW CAMERAS GALORE code from Info.plist, and paste it into the

E
very February, photographers everywhere flock to the Photo Marketing blank document. Close Info.plist.
Association (PMA) trade show to check out the latest cameras and other new
photography equipment. Here’s the lowdown on some of the newest releases. 3 Go to your favorite Web site’s RSS feed
Canon announced 22(!) new products, including the EOS 30D Digital SLR ($1,399, (the URL should have .rss or .xml at the
www.usa.canon.com), which features an 8.2-megapixel CMOS sensor. The PowerShot tail). Replace Apple Hot News in the text
S3 IS ($499.99) is a 6-megapixel camera with an image-stabilized 12x optical zoom. document with the title of your new feed.
The PowerShot SD700 IS Digital ELPH ($499.99) has a 4x-optical-zoom lens with Replace Apple’s URL in the text document
Optical Image Stabilization. The 6-megapixel PowerShot A700 ($349.99) has 6x optical with the new feed’s URL.
zoom, 6-megapixel resolution, and 22 shooting modes. The 4-megapixel PowerShot
A530 ($229.99) has 4x optical zoom and a 1.8-inch LCD screen.
Nikon unveiled seven new cameras. The Coolpix L4 ($149.95, www.nikonusa.com) is
a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot with built-in red-eye fix, 3x optical zoom, and more. The
6-megapixel Coolpix S6 ($449.95) has Wi-Fi for wireless file transfers. The CoolPix P4
($399.95) is an 8.1-megapixel camera with 3.5x optical zoom and Vibration Reduction.
The 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor ($1,035) is a macro lens equipped with 4 Save the file and name it Info.plist.
Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor and Vibration Reduction systems. Create a folder and give it an appropriate
Kodak’s new cameras included the EasyShare Z612 ($399, www.kodak.com), a name. Drag your newly created Info.plist
6-megapixel camera with 12x optical zoom. The compact 6.1-megapixel EasyShare file into the folder, and then add .plugin
V603 ($299) has a 2.5-inch LCD and 3x optical zoom. The 5-megapixel EasyShare C533 to the folder’s name. This will turn it
($199) has a 3x optical zoom and 1.8-inch LCD. into a package that looks like a generic
Pentax showed its new 6-megapixel Optio T10 ($349.99, www.pentaximaging document instead of a folder.
.com), which has a 3-inch LCD within its tiny 3.7-by-2.3-by-0.8-inch body. Samsung
has partnered with Pentax to release the GX-1L (price TBD, www.samsungcamerausa Drag the package into the /User/
.com), a digital SLR that has features similar to Pentax’s *ist DL: 6-megapixel Application Support/Saft/Sidebar folder.
resolution, a Pentax K-AF lens mount, a 2.5-inch LCD, a five-point wide-area Auto In Safari, choose View > Show Sidebar,
Focus system, and more. and your RSS feed will appear on the left.
Other notable cameras at the show included Sony’s 8-megapixel Cyber-shot
DSC-W100 ($350, www.sonystyle.com), Casio’s 8.1-megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z850
($399.99, www.casio.com), and Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-L1 (price TBD, www
.panasonic.com) digital SLR.
There were a couple of noteworthy software announcements, as well. Adobe
released Photoshop Elements 4 for Mac ($89, www.adobe.com), which now has
Magic Selection Brush and Magic Extractor tools to quickly separate an object from its
background, a new Correct Color For Skin Tones function, and more. Apple released
Aperture 1.1 ($499, www.apple.com) which features improved RAW processing, a
new color meter, performance enhancements, and more. The 1.1 upgrade for current
Aperture owners will be free.—MV and RL

14 May 2006
Your Mac,
Your Future,
and...

B
E
Y
O
N
D
16 May 2006
What’s on tap for you and your Mac next
year? In five years? Ten? Twenty? Come
with us on a trip into the future.
By Jake Widman and the editors of MacAddict
Illustrations by Doug Ross Read on B
May 2006 17
Your Mac, Your Future, and
B E Y O N D

PREDICTING THE FUTURE IS A CRAPSHOOT.


Sure, the near future is reasonably predictable-Intel-based
replacements for the iBook and Power Mac are a virtual certainty-
but projecting beyond that requires a lot of research and a fair bit
of dot-connecting. So that’s what we did in order to bring you our best
prognostications of what’s coming down the pike in your digital life.
Be forewarned, however. Although the future is indeed bright, there’ll
be some bumps along the road. Also be forewarned that our predictions
are just that: predictions. Read on with saltshaker in hand.

+TRUE VOICE CONTROL Within five

The Mac years, your Mac’s processor power will rise to


such a level that true, real-time natural-language
There are plenty of changes voice control and transcription will become a
reality. Added bonus: Real-time translation and
coming—and they’re all for transcription from, say, English to Chinese will also
the better. be possible. Within 10 years, your Mac’s voice-
command capabilities will improve even further
when your Mac’s iSight camera can read your lips.
+ iBOOK REDUX Within the next few months, the Just don’t let it watch you and your coworkers discussing plans
successor to the iBook will be released. It will be called the to shut it down.
MacBook (non-Pro), will be based on either the Intel Core Duo or
Core Solo chips, and will have the same widescreen display format + MASSIVE OPTICAL DRIVES In a year or
of the MacBook Pro, iMac, and all of Apple’s current displays. three, your Mac will have a Blu-ray optical drive as standard
equipment—and we do mean standard, not optional (Steve Jobs
+ POWER MAC REBORN Later this year, Apple will is a hard-core HD-video fan, and Blu-ray will make HD playback
release the next generation of its pro-level Macs—and they and recording possible). Blu-ray capacities are already at 25GB
won’t be called Power Macs. They’ll be based on a dual-core and will rise to 200GB in a few years; speed will triple, as well.
processor now code-named Conroe, though Intel’s marketing
department will change that—S’more Duo, anyone? Conroe, + SPECIALIZED CHIPS In the next five years,
which has already been demoed by Intel, is powered by Intel’s microprocessors and their supporting chips will be more and
next-generation processor architecture; a single-core version more often designed for specific purposes. For example,
using the same architecture will also be available. Due to server CPUs that handle transaction processing won’t include
Conroe’s improved power-handling capabilities, there’s a strong higher-order mathematics elements such as floating-point
possibility that these pro-level Macs will be smaller and quieter units, and processors designed for compact mobile devices will
than the current Power Mac G5s. Soon after the pro-level Macs have the functions of their supporting chips included on the
are released, the mobile version of Conroe (code-named Merom) microprocessor itself.
will appear in ’Books.
+ MEGAPOWERFUL PROCESSORS In 10 years,
+ SIMULTANEOUS OPERATING SYSTEMS microprocessors will have dozens or even hundreds of
If Apple chooses to implement Intel’s Virtualization Technology, specialized cores. Applications will be coded to take advantage
next year you’ll be able to boot Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux of the massively parallel capabilities of these chips, resulting
simultaneously but separately and switch OSes at will. When in such now-unthinkable feats as real-time ray tracing (see
Windows crashes, you won’t have to reboot Mac OS X or Linux— “Content Creation,” p21).
they’ll just keep humming along on their own. Will Apple unlock
this capability? Flip a coin: Heads, they will; tails, they won’t. + G’BYE, CIRCUITRY It will take a decade or more,
but eventually logic boards and their intricate traces and
+ MULTIPLE STORAGE OPTIONS In a few years (or circuitry will disappear when chips communicate with one
sooner), you’ll be able to choose between two types of storage for another using proximity communication, a technology in which
your ’Book: hard drives or flash drives—or both. Though flash- on-chip transmitters send signals to receivers on other chips,
drive capacities will increase and their costs will sink, they’ll still thus enabling more-complex and higher-speed communication
be less capacious and more expensive than hard drives. among chips.

18 May 2006
+POCKET-SIZE MACS By 10 years out, Apple will +NUBBIN MAC In 25 years, your encrypted data, photos,
leverage the hosted-app model (see “Software,” p21). With your videos, tunes, OS, and apps will all live in a tab small enough
apps, docs, and email stored online, your Mac itself will need to carry on your keychain. You’ll insert it into your Mac, phone,
only enough space for minimal system and .Mac-connection camera, or whatever, or wirelessly connect to a keyboard,
software. Match an iPod nano–sized Mac with a roll-up display display, and sound system. The tab will also connect to the
(like Samsung’s plastic-enclosed LCD prototype) and a folding Internet wirelessly so you can back it up, make purchases (it’ll
keyboard, and your Mac will fit in your jacket pocket. automatically access your bank info), or share your digital stuff.

in “iPod docks” that enable

Home direct full-screen playback.

+SATELLITE
Entertainment RADIO
Within two years, Griffin will
offer a Radio Shark with satellite-
Yes, Virginia, there were once only three radio capability. Within 10 years,
TV channels, and music came on vinyl. satellite-radio receivers will be
built into every Mac.

+ WIRELESS VIDEO Sometime next year, you’ll see a + BYE-BYE BLOCKBUSTER Within five years, DVD
video version of AirTunes with a video-capable AirPort Express— rental stores will be on their way out. Instead, you’ll either
we’re already partway there with the Front Row–equipped, take your iPods to the video store and pay to have movies
Bonjour-capable Mac mini and the iPod AV Connection Kit. downloaded to them, or log onto your video-store account
and download movies to your TV-connected Mac minis or their
+CARS ’N’ TVS More and more cars will be sold with media-oriented offspring. Each download will include some
iPod connectivity built in. In a few years, you’ll see TVs with built- form of rights protection that makes the video expire after a ▲

TOUCH Apple patent players, digital video players,


number 20,060,026,536,
applied for in January 2005, PATENT PENDING handheld computers, personal
digital assistants, pagers,
covers “gestures for touch- Reading the Numbered Tea Leaves electronic organizers, electronic
sensitive input devices” We know that more Intel Macs and new variations notepads, and a whole lot more.
and lists Apple design guru of the iPod are coming, but exactly what shape The patent is vague enough that
Jonathan Ive as one of its they’ll take—and what else Apple may have in the it could encompass a variety of
inventors. Apple says the pipeline—may be discerned from several recent new devices, including an Apple-
touch-sensitive system patents Jobs & Co. have filed. Or maybe not. But branded smartphone.
could apply to such UI heck, we’re going to try anyway. VIDEO AND VoIP Apple
elements as virtual volume could use the iPod’s success
knobs, scroll wheels, and to make VoIP (Voice over IP)
keyboards. So are we talking about the much-rumored “real” telephony successful and give Apple a huge communications
video iPod with a bigger screen? An Apple wireless tablet user base. Two Apple patents (7,003,590 and 7,003,260)
computer? A digital book reader? We’d place our bets on an deal with, respectively, an automatic ID-allocation technique
improved video iPod. for use in applications for AV/C (audio/video control)
VOICE ACTIVATION Patent number 20,050,015,254, devices, and database programs for handheld devices.
filed in July 2003, is for a server-based media-management An AV/C device consists of a control unit and one or more
system that includes voice-activated navigation. The new subunits that perform the controlled functions, such as
system, coupled with the touch-sensitive screen, could camcorders and TVs. Apple is at least eyeing some sort of
indicate a next generation of wireless iPods with the ability device that would interact with these devices, and a good
to download updatable menus beyond those that come bet would be on the aforementioned video iPod or a true
prepackaged with the unit. The voice activation could make media-center Mac.
them more convenient to use while driving or jogging. The database patent involves techniques for providing
MOBILE ME Last January, we found out about Apple’s new access to databases from handheld devices. If said
trademark/service-mark application for “Mobile Me,” filed databases included contact info, we could see an iPod
under three separate numbers: 78,785,943; 78,785,950; and phone that does VoIP. Whether it looks like an iPod with a
78,785,959. This mark covers a broad range of technologies microphone and speaker, or like the iTunes-capable phones
and services, including portable devices such as digital audio from Motorola—well, only time will tell.—Dennis Sellers

May 2006 19
Your Mac, Your Future, and
B E Y O N D

couple of days—although you’ll probably be able to extend the +THE APPLE CHANNEL Within five years, Apple will
duration by going online. provide exclusive video content—TV shows and movies available
only via the iTunes Music Store or some other download service.
+ THE BIG SCREEN In addition to downloading You’ll also be able to subscribe to a download-only TV network.
movies, you’ll also be able to choose from an explosion of indie
and public-domain films, downloadable via BitTorrent-type + FOLLOW THE MONEY That all sounds great, right?
technology. iMovie HD and Macs that can handle streaming HD Well, we’ll also bet that within 10 years, crafty marketers will figure
video will make widescreen moviemaking as easy as blogging and out how to make money by ruining your experience unless you pay.
podcasting—with similar results (see “Content Creation,” p21). How’d you like to see pop-up ads in the middle of a movie?

+ TRUSTED COMPUTING Neither of the previous

Security two predictions might matter, however, since Intel-based


Macs will soon be able to support trusted computing,
a technology that can—among other things—allow a
The balancing act between security computer to refuse to run software it doesn’t authorize,
and privacy will continue. such as a virus. Unfortunately, this also opens the door to
the (unlikely, we hope) possibility that your Mac could also
refuse to run any software it doesn’t like—such as non-
+ THE END OF VIRUSES Within five years, viruses Apple software, or at least software not vetted and licensed
will be few and far between. Microsoft and Apple, possibly with by Apple. Such software would be sold with a “Runs for Sure!”
help from the government, will come up with a combination of sticker on the box.
antiviral utilities and security patches that’ll keep Macs and PCs
reasonably safe, and most virus writers will get bored and go + EVERYTHING ENCRYPTED In a year or three, you’ll
back to trying to take over computers at banks and the Pentagon. have the build-to-order option to equip your Mac with a hard
drive that automatically encrypts all your data in real time,
+DATA TAPPING Within 10 years, someone will come greatly improving the security of all your personal stuff—a boon
up with a way to release code-based “antibodies” over the especially to MacBook owners who might lose their precious
Internet that will identify and destroy the few viruses that make ’Books or (gasp!) have them stolen. After this development,
it through the aforementioned antiviral measures before they further security will be provided by your laptop’s built-in iSight
ever reach your Mac. Of course, that means they’ll have to tap camera, which will scan either the blood-vessel patterns on
into and inspect data packets—which means the government your retinas or flecks on your irises to find out whether you are,
will likely control the technology. indeed, your ’Book’s owner.

APPLE “I feel Apple will continue could be that we access software


to grow in the mainstream-
computer market. I seriously doubt
A PSYCHIC’S in a very different way—maybe
like we’ll log onto an account
it will pass 25 to 30 percent. But
investing in Apple stock feels
INTUITION and use it that way. In any
case, it’ll make the difference
pretty solid. I’m also curious about We geeks at MacAddict may be experts in technology, between operating systems far
upcoming acquisitions. I don’t see but not necessarily in divining the future—that’s less relevant than it is now—it’s
anyone acquiring Apple, but I see why we contacted Barbara Courtney, not even clear how they’d
the possibility that Apple’s growth a professional psychic (aka “intuitive differentiate themselves.”
could come by acquiring others. consultant”) who happens to live a few STEVE JOBS “I anticipated
The result could be more functions miles up the freeway from Apple’s digs a couple of years ago that Steve
built into the Mac, and that will in Cupertino, CA. Courtney offered Jobs was looking to resign, and
make it even more attractive.” her insights into the fortunes of I don’t see him staying as CEO
iPODS “My feeling is that iPods Apple, the Mac, and Steve Jobs. beyond next year. The question
will continue to dominate the is: Who will replace him? I
digital-music-player market for at feel there’s definitely some
least the next three years. I do see a potential problem if Apple scouting going on, but a solid
tries to cram too many functions into the device. I feel Apple candidate hasn’t emerged yet. My feeling is that someone else
would be wise to keep simple, less-complex versions in the from the early days—from outside Apple, but not outside the
product lineup as well.” computer industry—might surface in a stronger role. I also think
MACS “I feel there is a huge shift coming within the next five that [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs will get involved in
years or so that will reconfigure how we use our computers. It some kind of collaboration, but not one involving Apple directly.”

20 May 2006
Content +REAL-TIME RAY
TRACING Ten years from now, your

Creation
Mac will be able to render ray-traced
animations in real time. Ray tracing is
a way of creating 3D scenes that look
Andy Warhol was right—in the future, realistic, with objects that reflect and
we’ll all get our 15 minutes of fame. cast shadows on one another. It’s also
a tremendously processor-intensive
process: Today, a single ray-traced
+ VIRTUAL CONCERTS Within five years, far-flung frame of a movie such as The Incredibles takes hours to render.
musicians will be jamming together in real time over the The ability to produce fully realized 3D scenes without waiting
Interweb, with video capabilities so they can see each other. for rendering will take gaming and other forms of digital
Using iSight cameras, iChat, and real-time iMovie, they’ll be entertainment to new heights of realism.
able to composite themselves together into the image of a band;
audience members will be able to log on and watch and listen to +
ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE Fortunately,
the performance. with all this new content, we look forward to a quality shakeout
over the next five or 10 years. When punk came along in the
+ HOME HIGH-DEF Within five to 10 years, you’ll late seventies, everybody with a garage started a band, but
be able to broadcast high-definition video from your own a decade later, only a handful of those bands had “made
consumer-level Mac, which will have enough processing power it.” Same thing: Blogs and podcasts won’t go away, but the
to host high-quality video streaming—especially since by that offerings will be whittled down to a top tier with broad appeal
time we should be up to video codec H.274 (or should we say (which doesn’t necessarily equate with “quality”)—and you’ll
MPEG-4 Part 15?). almost certainly have to pay for them somehow.

anywhere just by logging on. When you get to your

Software account, you’ll be presented with something like the


media browser in Pages or iMovie HD: You’ll choose
a project to work on rather than an app to work
Software will continue to
in, and the required app will load automatically.
improve—but it may not be Once that’s up and running, you’ll be able to do
on your Mac. “doc-casting” to let other people subscribe to your
documents—.Mac will become a space not just for
storage and broadcasting, but also for collaboration.
+UP AGAINST EXCEL iWork will get a spreadsheet
module, but maybe not as early as next year. Microsoft has +OPENDOC REVIVED OpenDoc was Apple’s 1992-
promised to keep developing Office for the Mac for five more to-1997 effort to make it possible to work on compound
years, so Apple has that much time to make sure that iCalc (a name documents by loading sets of tools appropriate to their different
Apple trademarked in May 2005) is thoroughly Excel compatible— components—for example, by using a spreadsheet utility as a
which it had better be, or it’ll have no chance of surviving. component inside a word-processing document. A .Mac-hosted
iLife could use the same sort of approach, which could make it
+ DRAWING AND DATA Other new iApps will include possible for Apple to implement a micropayment-based, pay-by-
iDraw, a basic vector-based drawing program, and iData, a the-operation system. Need Gaussian Blur on that photo in your
basic database app. iDraw will resemble the drawing module in Pages document? That’ll be 99 cents, please.
AppleWorks, with the added ability to automatically regularize
sketched shapes—turn a quickly hand-drawn oval into a perfect
circle, for example—as well as perform basic 2D animation.
iData will be stuffed with templates for tasks such as organizing
recipes and managing household finances. It’ll be based on the GAMES Alas, the future doesn’t
metaphor of a stack of index cards, but will have some relational look bright for Mac gaming. Games on
capabilities—you’ll be able to, for example, search for all your debit- computers—both Macs and PCs—are losing
card payments at Costco. A possible alternate name: iPerCard. ground to consoles, with the exception of
massively multiplayer online RPGs such as
+FAREWELL, SOFTWARE Within five years, it’ll be Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and other niche genres.
possible to work without actually owning any software. iLife and We hope we’re wrong, but there’s no reason to think
iWork will be available as hosted applications on .Mac, so you’ll that the Mac’s slice of this shrinking pie will increase.
be able to work on your iDisk-stored documents from any Mac

May 2006 21
Your Mac, Your Future, and
B E Y O N D

Personal +GAMING ’PODS


Within five years, the

Entertainment
iTunes Music Store will
offer video games. Some
you’ll be able to download
The iPod revolution has just begun— and play directly through
prepare for the always-on explosion. your iPod (with an
optional controller or
via the iPod’s potential
+ VOICE ’PODS Within five years, you’ll be able to touchscreen technology, à la the Nintendo DS); others you’ll
control your iPod with verbal input. “Playlist: Newly Added. be able to stream to your video-game consoles. (Hey, you can
Shuffle. Play.” already play music from your ’Pod through your Xbox 360—all
three of you that have managed to find one.) You’ll also be able
+ WIRELESS ’PODS The iPod will soon be wireless, to rent games on your iPod the same way you’ll rent movies
allowing you to download songs directly from the iTunes Music (see “Home Entertainment,” p19).
Store or stream them over Wi-Fi. It also means we’ll all be able to
share all our music, all the time. The RIAA will lobby Congress to + VORACIOUS ’PODS It took the iTunes Music Store
institute a tax on iPods to pay for what it will call “lost revenue,” three years to sell its first billion songs. You can expect it to
even though music sales will be at an all-time high. move the next billion by the end of next year.

M
ax wakes up two hours employment was automatically
past the time he’s terminated.
scheduled to be at MAX IN On his way to the
work, grumbling before unemployment office, he stops
he’s even out of bed. The iMac DYSTOPIAVILLE by a coffee shop to check the
that controls his apartment was balance of his investment
supposed to arouse him—what account. After paying the $20
happened? A quick check of the fee for an hour of Wi-Fi access
wall screen reveals the problem: (free public hotspots were
The company that publishes the banned in 2010—homeland
alarm app allowed its Apple- security, y’know), he’s
licensing certificate to expire. dismayed to discover that the
The iMac’s trusted-computing Web site for his bank won’t
circuitry discovered this fact last load. The bank, you see,
It’s Tuesday, 2031, and technology has brought some
night during its regular check-in failed to pay the local ISP for
changes that are less than welcome.
with Apple and automatically permission to transmit over
disabled the wake-up app. its network. MallWartCo’s site
Cursing fluidly and imaginatively, Max tries to call his boss loads fine, though—not that Max can afford to buy anything.
from his company cell phone, but everyone’s in a meeting, and Finally, seeking relaxation, Max goes to the park. A few hours
their voice-synthesized autobounceback messages tell him he of listening to his iPod while embraced by Mother Nature never
can’t reach them until after lunch. He then tries to email his boss’s fails to cheer him up—too bad his iPod’s location-tracking RFID
BlackBerry, but his e-stamp account is empty. (Email was changed (radio-frequency identification) chip denies it permission to
to a pay-per-message system in late 2008. The change was touted play. Even though he’s listening through his wireless earbuds,
as a spam-fighting measure, but the enormous revenue quickly the iPod requires that Max purchase a temporary public license
corrupted the two remaining telcos that control broadband Internet before it will play in any location other than his apartment—the
access. Unfortunately, spammers can afford all the e-stamps they location-licensing scheme was introduced by the RIAA as a way
need—the telcos provide great bulk-mailing rate plans—so Max’s to discourage podjacking.
inbox fills with daily offers for genetically modified organic Viagra; When Max overrides the restriction with a hack downloaded
condo loans at the low, low APR of 23.5 percent; and—yes, it still from the Internet—a Venezuelan site, since Google ensures that
exists—Nigerian advance-fee spam. But we digress…) Max pulls on U.S. sites are tightly policed—the iPod automatically notifies the
his coat, jumps into his syn-fuel, self-guided Hyundai, and tells its police of his Digital Millennium Copyright Act violation. Max is
guidance computer to take him to the office. arrested moments later. As the police lead him away, Max thinks
Arriving at work, he finds a security guard with a pink back to his first computer—an Apple IIe for which he wrote his
slip waiting by the blast-hardened gate. Max forgot that his own software—and weeps. What he doesn’t know, however,
company tracks his cell phone via location-monitoring software is that an alert underground blogger has reported his plight to
at the corporate headquarters; when the computer registered millions of MacAddict readers, who are already preparing for the
that he was still at home two hours after his shift started, his obligatory (and illegal) protest march.—Johnathon Williams

22 May 2006
+ NO SUBSCRIPTIONS The iTMS will not go to the + OKAY, SOME SUBSCRIPTIONS On second
subscription model—not in the next five years, anyway. Current thought: The iTMS may offer subscription channels that serve as
popular releases are just too reliable a cash cow. But within five samplers for certain musical genres. We could see subscribing
years, iTMS will have multi-tier pricing, with the latest hits costing to a local-band channel to find out which bands were worth
more than 99 cents. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean checking out, or a classical music channel to listen—just once—
that the old stuff will cost less than 99 cents. to every possible interpretation of Mahler’s Kindertotenleider.

as WiMAX and EVDO will enable

The providers to blanket even rural areas


with wireless coverage, so as long as

Internet
you’ve got a properly-equipped Mac,
cell phone, or other device, you’ll
always be on the info grid.
Think mobility. Think ubiquity. Think
intrusive marketing schemes. +UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
Within five years, ISPs will merge
into only a handful of major
+ iWEB GROWS UP Next year’s release of iWeb will players, and they’ll begin to offer “tiered access” service.
allow forums and comments on blogs. Under this scheme, big corporate customers such as Wal-Mart,
for example, could pay your ISP to make sure that Wal-Mart
+MAKE YOUR OWN ONLINE STORE Apple will Online packets speed to your Mac without any of the delays that
continue to raise .Mac’s bandwidth and storage-space limits will afflict access to small fish such as Rik’s eSausage eShack.
while tying its capabilities more and more tightly to the iLife Solution? Independent ISPs. Problem? What independent ISPs?
apps. Within five years, you’ll be able to get an ecommerce
version of iWeb that’ll let you host your own stores on .Mac; + MOBILE TELEMARKETING Within 10 years, Google
whether Apple will take a cut from each .Mac-based sale is will tie together Google Earth with its telephone-number-lookup
anybody’s guess. system and newly acquired access to cell-phone data and
location information to let you find anyone, anywhere, anytime—
+ WIRELESS ACCESS EVERYWHERE Five years as long as they have a cell phone. Businesses will leverage this
from now, you’ll be able to find an Interweb connection of some technology to call your phone when you’re near their locations
sort anywhere you go. Wireless Internet-access technologies such and play an audio or video ad.

Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile, by subleasing

Apple frequencies to resell to customers interested in an


Apple-quality cell-phone experience.
The fabled Cupertino
Fruit Company will continue +MACS ARE HERE TO STAY Apple
won’t stop making Macs, at least not within the
to thrive and expand. next dozen years or more; the company is more
likely to start making something entirely new than
to abandon computing hardware. Also, pro-level
+ WINDOWS? HA! Apple won’t adopt the Windows Apple-produced computers—no matter what they’re called—will
operating system. Ever. (Don’t laugh; some pontificatory pundit continue to dominate high-end content creation.
types are suggesting that it should.)
+ IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST Next year,
+CAN YOU HEAR MAC NOW? Within five years, Apple will come out with an ad that doesn’t look like someone
you’ll be able to buy an Apple-branded cell phone—with else’s ad or music video.
iTunes built in, natch—and use it on an Apple-branded phone
network. Apple won’t build its own network, but rather act as +NO COMMENT When asked about the future, Apple
an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), along the lines of spokesfolks will continue to decline to comment.

Jake Widman and the MacAddict staff have seen the future, and it works—that is, when it’s not just a spinning multicolored beach ball. Dennis Sellers
is the founder of Macsimum News (www.macsimumnews.com), an online newspaper about all things Mac. After researching “Max in Dystopiaville,”
Johnathon Williams fears the future.

May 2006 23
BACK
IT
■ You know you should.
■ You know you’ll feel better when you do.
■ Here’s how to protect your precious files from
the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.

UP! By John Rizzo

B
acking up is like going to the gym to lose weight: Unless you have a strategy for
doing it regularly, it just won’t be effective. Over the next few pages, we’re going to
give you that strategy—three strategies, in fact. First we’ll show you a bare-bones,
easy backup that ensures you copy all the data that you can’t live without. After that, we have
a disaster-recovery strategy designed to get you up and running immediately after a major
problem. Finally, we detail a plan for archiving material that isn’t going to change, such as
photos, old work projects, and music.
No more excuses. Take these steps, and start living a healthier Mac lifestyle.

24 May 2006
Strategy 1:
THE BARE MINIMUM
If you’re just too busy to back up the “right” way,
at least make time to back up what’s important.

C
onventional wisdom has it that you should back up everything, every day, onto
three sets of media—two onsite and a third offsite, preferably in a safety deposit
box at the bottom of an unused mine shaft. While this strategy makes sense for
some, it’s overkill for most—and similar to what happens when you’re told to work out for
an hour every day, you’ll just end up doing no backup at all.
Here, we defy orthodoxy and offer an alternative that doesn’t require a lot of storage
space or time. You can use just about any media you have at hand, including online
storage, external drives, and optical discs. The idea of the Bare Minimum backup is to
back up only files that you’re using and changing on a regular basis. First, here’s what you
don’t need to back up, and why:

■ MAC OS X You can reinstall this from your Mac OS X Install disc if you need to
recover from disaster.
■ APPS THAT CAME WITH THE MAC You can also use the Install disc that came
with your Mac to reinstall all of these apps at once.
■ APPS THAT CAME ON A CD OR DVD You’ll reinstall these one at a time if
you need to.
■ APPS FOR WHICH YOU STILL HAVE THE INSTALLER Ditto. (See “Archive
Your Static Data,” p27.)

ON THE
In addition to these items, there are some files and folders that you don’t need to back
up every day because they don’t change that often. An occasional archiving of these will
DISC
Déjà Vu, iPod.iTunes,
work fine, as explained in the “Archive Your Static Data” section (p27).

SuperDuper

May 2006 25
You’ve probably noticed that all of these folders are in the
Library folder inside your home (user name) folder. To make
things simple, you could back up your entire /user name/Library
folder, though it contains files that you don’t really need to back
up, which drastically increases the space needed.
To copy these folders and files, you could simply drag them
to your backup medium—but that’s something you won’t want
to do every day. You’re better off using software that will back
up these folders automatically. One of the best utilities for the
Bare Minimum backup is Apple’s own Backup, which you can
get when you subscribe to Apple’s .Mac service—even if you just
sign up for the free 60-day trial (download it from your /iDisk/
Software/Apple Software folder). The appeal is that you don’t
actually need to know the locations of the email, calendar, and
other key folders—all you need to do is select these and other
items from Backup’s list of preconfigured backup scenarios. (For
Apple’s Backup provides you with a set of predefined backup more on using Backup, see “Back That Mac Up,” Mar/06, p63.)
options, but it also lets you create your own. Other backup utilities will also work but take more effort to set
up and reconfigure. (See “A Backup-Software Sampler,” p28.)
What you do need to back up is trickier. Of course you want
to back up your data files, usually located in your Documents Strategy 2:
folder—but a lot of what you want to back up is secreted away
in places you’d never think to look. Here are the key folders that
THE BOOTABLE-
change regularly and should be included in the minimum backup: BACKUP SAFETY NET
When everything goes wrong, use this
■ EMAIL MESSAGES /user name/Library/Mail for Apple
Mail; /user name/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office method to get back on your feet in an instant.

N
2004 Identities/Main Identity for Entourage ow that we’ve just shown you how not to back up
■ iCAL CALENDAR /user name/Library/Application your entire hard disk, we’re going to tell you why you
Support/iCal in Tiger; /user name/Library/Calendars in might want to. Two words: disaster recovery. When
Mac OS 10.3.9 and earlier your hard drive goes south and refuses to return, nothing beats
■ ADDRESS BOOK CONTACTS /user name/Library/ having a bootable external hard drive to start your Mac back up.
Application Support/AddressBook Having one lets you immediately get back to business, checking
■ SAFARI BOOKMARKS /user name/Library/Safari/ your email and using your files. A bootable backup drive also
Bookmarks.plist makes it easier to try fixing your sick drive, because you can
■ KEYCHAIN PASSWORDS /user name/Library/ use multiple disk-repair utilities such as Alsoft’s DiskWarrior
Keychains ($79.95, www.alsoft.com) or file-recovery utilities such as

RAID = BACKUP?

A
RAID array—acronymified puts them on all the drives, making in its protection against hardware
from either “redundant the read/write process faster; drive failures.
array of inexpensive disks” concatenated tells the Mac to treat So what’s the problem? Most
or “redundant array of independent all the drives as though they were a hard-drive errors aren’t caused by
drives”—is often portrayed as an single volume. Mirror RAID is the type hardware failure, but by corruption
alternative to backup. In some ways it considered an alternative to backup: of data in the drive directory. When
is, but in some important ways it isn’t. As you save files, they’re placed onto this happens, the RAID software can
Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) supports two drives simultaneously, leaving copy the bad data to both drives,
three ways to use multiple disks in you with an always-up-to-date extra spreading the problem to your
a RAID array, configurable through bootable drive. If one hard drive fails, “backup.” Now you have a dead Mac
Disk Utility: striped, concatenated, you can keep running the Mac with and a nonworking backup.
and mirror. (Obviously, you need to the other. When you replace the dead The lesson here is that running
have multiple drives connected to drive, the mirror RAID is regenerated a RAID is good insurance against
your Mac to do this.) Striped breaks automatically. In this way, mirror downtime for certain problems, but
files into multiple segments and RAID is superior to a daily backup it’s no guarantee against data loss.

26 May 2006
Prosoft’s Data Rescue II ($99, www.prosofteng.com) without
restarting your Mac—otherwise, you’ll have to restart with each
utility’s CD or DVD each time you try a different repair utility. BUSINESS BACKUP
Finally, if you do need to recreate your hard drive, your backup

B
software will reinstall all of your software, settings, and files in acking up in a business environment can be
one step—there’ll be no need to run multiple installers. crucial to preserving the bottom line—it’s not
To create a bootable backup drive, you’ll need software an option. But businesses often need to back
that copies the thousands of invisible files the Mac requires to up multiple Macs at the same time. The easiest way to
start up—you won’t get these files by dragging and dropping. do this is to simply back up files from each Mac on the
Some utilities that do a good job are Déjà Vu, BounceBack, network to an ordinary file-server volume mounted on
and SuperDuper (see “A Backup-Software Sampler,” p28). every Mac. Many of the backup utilities that you’d use on
Alternately, some external drives, such as those in the Maxtor an individual Mac, including Déjà Vu, BounceBack, and
OneTouch line ($149.95 to $899.95, www.maxtor.com), come Retrospect, can also back up to a mounted file server.
with backup software that can create a bootable drive. Larger businesses, on the other hand, may choose
to back up to a dedicated backup server. Each one of
the users’ Macs runs a backup client to transfer files
to the server, and then the server itself gets backed
up. The advantage to a dedicated backup server is that
it gives better performance than using a file server,
and users don’t have to mount a drive on their Macs.
Backup servers also usually include administration
software that enables an IT staff to configure all of the
Macs from one place. Backup servers often allow both
Mac and Windows PCs to back up to the same server,
Déjà Vu can back up a whole disk or selected folders according to and they generally work with various types of media,
the schedule you choose. including tape.
Industrial-strength backup services such as BakBone
Your first full-disk backup can take up your lunch hour—or (www.bakbone.com) and ADIC (www.adic.com) can
even your entire afternoon—but subsequent backups will be run on multiple backup servers, and they can service
much shorter. That’s because most backup utilities back up hundreds of users’ computers and file servers. They
incrementally, copying only files that are new or have changed provide features such as backing up several different
since the last backup. types of files at different times, backing up to remote
If you’re using an older external drive as your backup, it may sites, and backing up to tape libraries. These big-boy
have a smaller capacity than your modern Mac’s internal drive. backup systems mean business—and save businesses.
To make sure you don’t run into trouble, choose software that
lets you exclude specific folders from being backed up to your
bootable drive. Some space-hogging items you might want to
leave out include your music, photos, and movies (assuming
you’ve archived them as described in the next section), the
Caches folder (/user name/Library/Caches), and applications
for which you still have the CDs. Do not, however, exclude your
hard-drive repair utilities; you’ll want to have these on your
backup drive in case of an emergency.

Strategy 3:
ARCHIVE YOUR
STATIC DATA
Some data only needs to be backed up
CMS’s schedulable BounceBack provides detailed info of
once. Make sure you do it right the first time. its progress while backing up.

A
rchiving to optical discs (recordable DVDs and CDs) is
a great strategy for data that doesn’t change and that
you might want to keep for awhile. Movies, music, and Until new storage technologies become widely available (such
photos are good candidates for archiving. Optical media not as Blu-ray, introduced this year, which can store up to 25GB
only lasts longer than hard-drive storage, but it’s hella cheaper, on single-layer media—but currently costs $1,000 for a drive
too. The downside is the relatively small size of each disc: and 20 bucks for a disc), use backup software that can spread
An iMovie file can easily be too big to fit on a single DVD, and files across multiple discs. Roxio’s Toast 7 Titanium (
even a nano-sized iTunes library would occupy multiple CDs. Jan/06, p44), for example, has this ability.

May 2006 27
A BACKUP- APPLICATION PROS CONS IDEAL USES

SOFTWARE Backup Backs up to .Mac, hard You must subscribe to Backing up settings, iCal,
■ Apple drives, and optical disks. Apple’s .Mac service Address Book, and songs
SAMPLER ■ www.mac.com You don’t need to know or sign up for a 60-day purchased from the iTunes
There’s a lot of ■ $99 per year locations of key files free trial. Cannot create Music Store.
(as part of .Mac and folders. bootable drive.
backup software out subscription)
there, and most of it BounceBack Creates bootable backup The backup and Scheduled backup of entire
is very good at doing ■ CMS Products drive. Automatically restore functions are in or partial bootable hard disks
■ www.cmsproducts launches when you plug separate applications. to one or more destinations.
some things while .com in backup drive. Easy Scheduling both backup and
not so super at doing ■ $79 exclusion of folders. Can archiving.
other tasks. This schedule different folders
for different media.
list should give you
Carbon Creates bootable drive. Cannot back up to Scheduled backup of entire
a good idea of the Copy Cloner Dirt cheap. CDs or DVDs. No way hard drive to a bootable
range of utilities ■ Mike Bombich to exclude folders. external drive.
■ www.bombich.com Complex user interface.
you can find. ■ $5 or more No tech support.
(donationware)
Déjà Vu Creates bootable drive. You can select Scheduled backup of selected
■ Propaganda Simple to use. Free if you individual folders, folders or an entire hard drive
Productions have Roxio’s Toast. but you can’t exclude to a bootable external drive.
■ www.propagandaprod folders if entire drive
.com, on the Disc is selected.
■ $25, or free with
Roxio Toast
Retrospect Lets you customize Complex interface. Backing up multiple Macs over
■ EMC Insignia and configure every a network.
■ www.emcinsignia.com conceivable aspect of
■ $129 a backup.
SuperDuper More advanced options No way to exclude Scheduled backup of an
■ Shirt Pocket Software than Carbon Copy Cloner. folders. entire hard drive to a bootable
■ www.shirt-pocket.com, external drive.
on the Disc
■ $28

As with the other strategies we’ve detailed, you need to know The purchased-music-only archive approach leaves you
what to archive. Here’s a short list: with all of your music CDs to reimport if you need to restore
your hard drive. It would be easier to archive all of your iTunes
■ SOFTWARE PURCHASED BY DOWNLOAD music (/user name/Music/iTunes), though that may require
Back up the installer (disk image or compressed archive) if multiple DVDs. Another storage option is your iPod, of course,
you still have it; otherwise, back up the software itself. if it’s big enough to hold all of your music. The problem is that
■ COMPLETED PROJECTS You can figure this one out. Apple gives you no way to restore the music and playlists
■ MOVIES /user name/Movies from your iPod to your Mac. You’ll need to turn to one of the
■ PHOTOS /user name/Pictures/iPhoto Library many shareware utilities that can do that, such as PodWorks
■ MUSIC That’s a more complicated task. Read on. ($8, www.scifihifi.com/podworks), iPod.iTunes ($35, on the
Disc, www.crispsofties.com), or iPod Access ($14.99, www
When it comes to music, the very least you should archive is .findleydesigns.com).
what you’ve purchased from the iTunes Music Store or otherwise
downloaded from the Internet. Apple’s Backup allows you to
back up purchased music to discs or your .Mac account. You can
THE MULTIPRONGED
also use iTunes to burn your Purchased Music playlist to disc. APPROACH

Y
However you back up your music, be sure to include the ou’ve probably guessed by now that the best strategy is
/Users/Shared folder in your archive. This folder contains to use a bit of each of the techniques we’ve described.
invisible information that holds your iTunes Music Store Create an archive of your space-hogging static data on
authorization data—without it, you might not be able to play your optical discs. Back up regularly to a bootable backup drive. If
purchased songs. Also consider including your playlists, located you subscribe to .Mac, use it to upload automatic daily backups
in files called iTunes Music Library.xml and iTunes Library, from of your application settings, iCal calendar, and Address Book
your /user name/Music/iTunes folder (unless you’ve moved your contacts. This gives you two copies of some of your most
whole iTunes folder somewhere else—to an external drive, for valuable data.
instance—in which case they’re in the new folder location). Storage in the unused mineshaft is optional.
John Rizzo backed up his Mac 217 times while writing Mac mini
28 May 2006
Mods and Hacks for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, 2006).
Left

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Right
Field Guide to VIDEO-EDITING TERMS

Vital Video Verbiage


By Shelly Brisbin

T he moment you venture into the world of digital video editing, you’ll be bombarded by swarms of terms that come from film,
tape-based video editing, and even still-image work. Here’s a quick look at some of the language you should know as you get
started with iMovie HD or embark on any other video-crafting voyage.

Shooting Lingo
COVERAGE “Extra” footage shot to ensure that at least some video is available for all possible scenes. Coverage shots
may feature scenery, long shots of events, or other material that can be used during editing to “cover” scene
changes, audio-only sequences, or other elements that lack specific content.
DEPTH A measure of how much of your scene, from foreground to background, will be in focus. A shallow depth of
OF FIELD field is good for highlighting particular subjects by keeping them in sharp focus while the background blurs.
FRAMES Individual video images that comprise a clip (see below). NTSC video—the U.S. standard—is composed of
29.97 frames per second (fps).
HEADROOM The area above a subject’s head in a shot. To take an effective shot of a person, leave plenty of headroom.
PAN/TILT Rotation of a camera along an axis. A pan shot, usually done with the camera mounted on a tripod, moves
smoothly from side to side to capture a landscape or to follow motion. A tilt shot moves up and down.
SHOT LIST The written description of the shots needed for a video project, usually prepared in advance of shooting. Shot
lists ensure that you have all of the footage you need when you begin editing.
TIMECODE Notation indicating the position of video footage in time (hours, minutes, and seconds) and number of
frames. Camcorders create timecode, and you can use it to identify your position within a recording once you
import it into a video-editing app such as iMovie HD.

Editing Lingo
ASPECT RATIO The shape of a video frame, expressed by the ratio of its width to its height. Standard television uses a 4:3
aspect ratio, while widescreen and HDTV uses a 16:9 ratio.
CLIP A portion (often a complete scene) of a video project. Clips can be combined, edited, or split to create larger or
smaller segments of video. You can insert transitions and video effects between clips.
CODEC An algorithm that compresses and decompresses video. To play digital video, apps such as QuickTime Player
or RealPlayer must have access to a codec that is compatible with the video’s compression format.
DROPOUT Missing audio or video. Dropouts occur during playback, either because the original video is flawed, or
because the playback device (your old, low-RAM Mac, for example) can’t process video information fast Com
enough to display it in real time. Component
EDL Edit Decision List. Notes and descriptions of scenes to be edited or cut. A proper EDL should specify the time at
which important scenes and potential edits occur. Editors use the EDL to place scenes in their final running order.

Component Video vs. Composite Video


Component video is split into three separate signals: one for Component
luminance (roughly equivalent to brightness) and two for chrominance video (left)
(color information). Component signals travel directly to a monitor sends video via
or TV via three separate cables and connectors. Composite video, on
the other hand, has been compressed so that only one cable (and one
three cables,
Composite
while composite
jack) is required—the yellow one in the red/white/yellow setup that (right) uses only
Component
most TVs, VCRs, and DVD players use. Component video provides a single, usually

=
higher quality than composite video. yellow, cable.
+

32 May 2006
Composite
Interlaced Video vs. Progressive Video
Interlaced video creates complete video frames by overlapping
two video fields. The camera shoots two exposures per frame,
the first including all odd scan lines (one field), the second
containing the even-numbered lines (the second field). When + =
played back, all of the odd lines are drawn first, then all of
the even lines. Standard (NTSC and PAL) TVs use interlaced
video. Progressive video draws all the lines in order, making Interlaced video (above) draws an image in alternate scan lines.
one complete frame in a single pass. Digital TVs and computer Progressive video draws a whole image in one pass, which can
monitors use progressive video. reduce the appearance of flicker.

IN POINT/ The point at which a segment begins (in) or ends (out). You can use iMovie bookmarks to create in and out
OUT POINT points that remind you where edits should occur, or you can use timecode to note an in/out point’s position.
INSERT Editing feature that adds new footage between existing clips. iMovie uses insert editing: Dragging a new clip
EDITING into the timeline moves the following clip to the right.
JOG To step slowly through video footage. The term comes from the mechanical jog dial used by pro videotape-
editing equipment. In iMovie, you can jog one or 10 frames at a time.
LOSSY Refers to a video-compression format that sacrifices some of the information in the footage in order to
generate smaller files. Most video formats you’ll run into, such as MPEG-4 and QuickTime, are lossy.
NATURAL Audio recorded by your DV camera as you shoot. Use the audio as is, enhance it with iMovie’s audio effects, or
SOUND replace it with a music or voiceover track.
NONLINEAR The ability to cut and paste clips at will to any location within a video project, as opposed to linear editing,
EDITING in which video editors copy footage in sequence from one tape to another. Old-school film editing is also
nonlinear, because it involves physically cutting and splicing film.
REAL-TIME Live, full-quality preview of a video clip, including effects or transitions that have been added and rendered.
PREVIEW
RENDER To apply video and audio effects, transitions, titles, and other such items to a video project. Once rendered,
effects will be seen (or heard) when you play the movie in iMovie.
ROUGH CUT A quick edit or arrangement of clips intended to roughly approximate the final project. Organizing your clips
on the iMovie HD timeline will give you an idea of the final movie’s length and can help you choose effects
and transitions.
SCRUB To move through video footage in
iMovie or another video-editing
Rule of Thirds
If you’re looking for a good
app by dragging the playhead.
way to position a subject for
Manually scrubbing through
a pleasing composition, try
video lets you skim its contents.
this: Mentally divide your
STORYBOARD A series of drawings that shows field of view into a three-
the intended sequence of a video by-three grid, and place
project. In digital-video-editing your subject at one of the
software, the timeline (see below) imaginary intersections
is often called the storyboard. inside—a third of the way
down and a third of the way
TIMELINE An area in the iMovie HD or
in from the right side, for
other video-editing-software
example.
interface containing video clips,
transitions, effects, titles, still
Place your main
images, and audio—all the
subject at one
elements that will be part of the
of the third-of-
finished project.
the-way dots
Shelly Brisbin has been known to holler “That’s a wrap!” as for a pleasing
she exits family gatherings with bags full of DV tapes. composition.

May 2006 33
You’ll be
blown away.
RATIN¬S

You’ll be
impressed.
You’ll be
satisfied.
You’ll be
disappointed.
You’ll be
pissed off.
REVIEWS
better living through smarter shopping
35

Not only does Epson’s PowerLite 76c (pictured)


look cool, it’s also light and portable. Other
cool-looking products this month include a
pair of Mac mini–styled hard drives, a stylish
business printer, and Apple’s own MacBook Pro.
Next month, look for reviews of Olive’s Musica,
GroupSmarts’ MemoryMiner, WiebeTech’s
SilverSATA II, and more.

54 Digital FM Radio & FM Transmitter for iPod iPod FM transmitter and receiver
46 EasyShare-One camera
40 Evolt E-500 camera
52 iKey Portable USB Recorder audio recorder
53 iPod Hi-Fi iPod speaker stand
38 iWork ’06 productivity-software suite
36 MacBook Pro notebook Mac
55 Maxelerate external hard drive
55 MiniMax external hard drive
54 Officejet K550 business inkjet printer
42 Painter Essentials 3 painting software
51 Pixma MP950 multifunction printer
49 PowerLite 76c projector
50 Sorenson Squeeze 4.1 media-compression suite
44 Swift Publisher page-layout app
54 Thin laptop bag
48 Wave Editor audio-editing software

Games
57 Black and White 2 tips and tricks
59 ButtKicker Gamer audio-transducer review
59 Games Go Universal Intel-Mac update
59 The Movies coming soon
57 The Sims 2 University expansion-pack review
58 Zoo Tycoon 2 simulation-game review
PHOTOGRAPH BY SAMANTHA BERG

We’d spend our Universal application


own hard-earned that runs natively on
money on this both PowerPC and
product. Intel Macs.

May 2006 35
36 REVIEWS
better living through smarter shopping

2GHz and 2.16GHz


MacBook Pros
FAST (IN MOST CASES) NOTEBOOK MACS

P owerBook owners have been aching


for a significant speed upgrade for
quite some time now. With the new 2GHz
and 2.16GHz MacBook Pros, that big leap
in speed is finally here—for the most part.
The details. Apple offers the 2.16GHz
processor as an optional $300 upgrade
to the standard 2GHz MacBook Pro.
Both ’Books come standard with a
100GB 5,400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive;
the 2.16GHz MacBook Pro we tested
had a 7,200-rpm 100GB drive—a $100
option. Aside from these options, both
’Books that we tested had the same
standard specs: 2MB shared L2 cache;
667MHz frontside bus; 1GB 667MHz
DDR2 SDRAM (upgradable to
2GB); Gigabit Ethernet;
and built-in AirPort
Extreme, Bluetooth
2.0, and iSight.
Measuring 14.1 by
1 by 9.6 inches and weighing 5.6
pounds, both MacBook Pros have a
15.4-inch LCD with a native resolution of The future of the
1,440 by 900 pixels and a zippy 256MB PowerBook is here, and
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card it’s called the MacBook Pro.
with dual-link support. Other than the
iSight camera atop the LCD, the ports when someone balancing six lattes with the MacBook Pro’s single-layer
(which we’ll get to in a minute), and the accidentally trips over your power cable. burning.) Things you might miss:
MacBook Pro logo, the MacBook Pro If your MacBook Pro does happen to There’s no FireWire 800 port, modem,
looks like a PowerBook G4. drop, however, its Sudden Motion or S-Video-out connector as there was
On the MacBook Pro’s left side, Sensor quickly parks the hard drive’s on the PowerBook—think of these as
you’ll find a Kensington cable-lock head to prevent damage. Unfortunately, “third-party opportunities” for the
slot, USB 2.0 port, FireWire 400 port, the adapter disconnects rather easily—it ExpressCard/34 slot or USB port. Things
Gigabit Ethernet connector, and DVI often fell off as we simply nudged the you’ll welcome: Front Row, Apple’s media
connector for an external display. On its MacBook Pro around our desk. It’s a interface that you use with the included
right side, there’s an ExpressCard/34 rather minor flaw, unless you happen Apple Remote control, and Photo Booth,
slot, combined optical digital-output/ to be using the MacBook Pro without a Apple’s slap-happy photo-effects app
headphone jack, combined optical battery (and when do you ever do that?). that works with the iSight.
digital audio-input jack, another USB Unfortunately, the adapter’s power brick Testing. To gauge the MacBook Pro’s
2.0 port, and the MagSafe power- is about 1.5 times wider and 0.25 inches speed, we ran a battery of tests using
adapter port. taller than the PowerBook G4’s. both Intel-native software and apps that
Speaking of the power adapter, it’s a Many key features that we loved in the require Rosetta, Apple’s PowerPC-to-
newly redesigned one that takes its cue PowerBook are still here in the MacBook Intel code translator. For reference, we
from, of all things, the power ports on Pro, including the scrolling trackpad ran the same tests on a 17-inch 1.67GHz
fondue pots. It connects magnetically (which lets you drag two fingers on PowerBook G4 ( Jan/06, p26),
to the MacBook Pro, and all it takes is a the pad to perform screen scrolls), which has the same processor and video
slight tug to disconnect it. This scheme illuminated keyboard, and slot-loading subsystem as the 15-inch PowerBook
helps prevent the MacBook Pro from SuperDrive. (Though double-layer G4. All of the ’Books had 1GB of RAM,
flying off your table at a coffee shop DVD burning would be nice, we’re fine and—except for our battery test—we

36 May 2006
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you do if....
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SoftRAID is a trademark of SoftRAID LLC
Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of
Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S.
and other countries.
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iWork ’06
EVOLVING PRODUCTIVITY-SOFTWARE SUITE
Both Keynote and Pages
share a new translucent
window that allows you to
adjust the color, contrast,
and other attributes of
imported images, often
with just a few clicks.

new Comments feature,


which allows reviewers to
post yellow sticky notes
on your slides or pages.
Of course, comments
don’t appear during
presentations, and you
can choose to show or
hide them when printing
from Pages. If you export a
Pages document to Word,
comments are preserved—
a big plus.
Keynote improvements.
Apple has added seven
attractive new presentation
themes, including some in
sizes appropriate for HD
projection (but who does

i Work ’06, the latest version of Apple’s


productivity suite, may deceive you.
A quick look could make you think that
Working with graphics has been
improved. A new iPhoto-style
adjustment palette lets you improve
that besides Steve Jobs?). You’ll also
find a handful of new slide transitions,
including a nice Reflection effect that
not much has changed. But a deeper the brightness, contrast, sharpness, pulls back to reveal the slide against
examination reveals many new features and other attributes of your images. a reflecting black floor, then pans and
that long-term users have wanted and A handy Auto Levels button allows zooms to the next slide.
several longstanding—and annoying— you to fix digital-camera images with Some long-standing feature requests
bugs that have finally been squashed. one click (most of the time). There have been addressed, such as the ability
Overall, it’s a good buy if you’re just are also now more built-in shapes, to have multiple text boxes containing
getting on board with iWork, but if including stars and polygons (with bulleted text on a single slide; you can
you already own iWork ’05, read on to variable numbers of points and sides), even use bulleted text in table cells
see if this year’s version has enough and Bezier curves have been added and other objects. You can also scale
improvements for you. as drawing objects. You won’t be able grouped objects—that is, you can create
Shared improvements. iWork includes to completely eliminate other graphic a set of objects, group them, and then
Keynote 3, Apple’s answer to Microsoft’s apps when preparing images for slides resize the whole set.
PowerPoint presentation app, and Pages or pages, but many touch-up tasks can Finally catching up to PowerPoint,
2, the amalgamated word processor now be accomplished right in iWork. Keynote has a new slide-sorting feature
and page-layout app. Being parts of a The ability to use any graphic shape as called Light Table, which allows you
suite, Keynote and Pages have similar a nondestructive image mask is a great to drag thumbnails of your slides to
interfaces, and some new features improvement—it’s now much easier to rearrange their order. Unfortunately,
appear in both. For example, while iWork show just the parts of images you need. the thumbnail size is fixed, so if you
still lacks a full spreadsheet app, both iWork ’06 also includes several new have many slides, you may need to
Keynote and Pages add the ability to do 3D charts, which (as you would expect) squint to tell which slide is which. Light
simple calculations within tables—you are flashy and gorgeous, but of dubious Table really needs an iPhoto-esque
can apply six common functions (Sum, real-world value compared to 2D charts. magnification slider.
Average, Min, Max, Count, and Product) There’s also a new scatter chart type. Keynote handles QuickTime movies
to table contents. You can also (at last!) If you’ve ever needed to submit your better thanks to the addition of onscreen
sort items in your tables. documents for approval, you’ll like the (or keyboard) controls during playback,

38 May 2006
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40 REVIEWS
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lag (the time from when you press


the release to the actual exposure) is
virtually nil. Shutter-speed choices range
from 1/4000 of a second to 8 minutes,
and ISOs range from 100 to 1,600. The
E-500 can shoot at several megapixel
resolutions, and formats include JPEG,
TIFF, RAW, and RAW+JPEG. The automatic
sensor cleaner uses ultrasonic vibration
to remove loose dust particles from the
CCD each time you power up, so black
specks won’t appear on your image.
There are five scene settings on the
mode dial: Portrait, Landscape, Macro,
Sports, and Night Scene And Portrait.
If you turn the dial to Scene, you can
Feature-filled—and scroll through these choices plus ten
takes nice pics, too. more, each with descriptions and
image examples displayed on the LCD
monitor. You can also set the E-500 to

Evolt E-500
Auto or Program and let it do most of the
thinking for you. When you’re ready to
perform manual adjustments, Aperture
priority, Shutter priority, and Manual
IMPRESSIVE DIGITAL SLR CAMERA
exposure are at your command.

T he eight-megapixel Olympus
Evolt E-500 is a comfortable and
reasonably light digital SLR camera with
Views. Be prepared for a slight tunnel
effect when previewing pictures in the
viewfinder—you’ll feel a bit as if you’re
At low ISO settings, the E-500’s
picture quality is extraordinary, but
when we pushed the ISO over 400,
high-quality lenses that produce equally looking through a tube—but even four- images tended to become noisy. At ISO
high-quality images, making it a top eyed photographers 400, we were able to roll
contender in its class. can view the full image out 12-by-15-inch images
The E-500’s rubberized, slip-proof without the edges on our Epson 2200
grip is perfectly sized—your nose has disappearing. For a bigger printer that showed great
a nice resting place when you hold the viewfinder image, just detail in both shadows
camera to your eye. The camera remains slip off the eyecup and and highlights, perfect
rock-steady when rotated to shoot replace it with an optional color, and no noticeable
vertical images, and the tack-sharp magnifying one ($49). noise. The camera’s
Zuiko 14mm-to-45mm (28mm-to-90mm Sequential shooting TV mode also yielded
equivalent on a 35mm camera) f/3.5- could be improved; great output on a video
to-f/5.6 digital lens has smooth-as-silk you can only take four projector that threw a
zooming. pictures at a time at a rate four-by-five-foot image
The E-500’s nice 2.5-inch LCD viewing of 2.5 frames per second. on a screen.
screen makes it easy to view images and You can still continue The bottom line. If
compare them side by side. The LCD also shooting normally while The Evolt E-500’s standard lens you haven’t accumulated
doubles as a status monitor, and the the buffer clears and then yields razor-sharp detail. Meow! a bunch of lenses that
interface icons are easy for older eyes to shoot another high-speed dictate buying another
read. You can pack plenty of ammo when sequence, but four frames isn’t enough, brand, the E-500 has all the features
you shoot, since there are two memory- especially when shooting action scenes. you’ll ever need, plus some that its
card slots: a CompactFlash slot and an Shot-to-shot time is as fast as you can competitors don’t have. The E-500 is
Olympus xD-Picture Card slot. press the shutter release, and shutter a quality camera.—Arthur Bleich

COMPANY: Olympus PRICE: $799.99 (with 14mm-to-45mm GOOD NEWS: Comfortable. Fast shot-to-shot times.
CONTACT: 888-553-4448, lens), $899.99 (with 14mm-to-45mm Excellent lens quality. Accurate flesh tones.
www.olympus.com and 40mm-to-150mm lenses) BAD NEWS: Slightly small viewfinder. Memory card
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later not included. Sequential shooting speed could be faster.

40 May 2006
42 REVIEWS
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The new Photo Painting


palettes help convert
your photos into painterly
works of art.

functions, you use the


Restoration palette to
bring back some of the
detail from your original
image. It’s almost as
simple as paint by
numbers—you don’t even
have to don a smock—but
be prepared for a bit of
experimenting to get
your desired results.
Once you’re finished,
you can use your images
for printed cards, a wall
display, a Web gallery,
or simply as your screen
saver. You can also add

Painter Essentials 3 borders using the included Pattern Pens


or Image Hose.
For the artistically impaired,
PICTURESQUE PAINTING SOFTWARE Essentials’ online tutorials are helpful,
and the installation disc includes

P ainter IX ( Feb/05, p38) is


the best painting app we’ve seen,
but it may be intimidating for the casual
since Essentials essentially does it
for you. Creating a photo painting
takes three steps: First, you use the
well-done videos from lynda.com that
show you how to use Essentials’ tools.
There’s also a Quick Guide palette that
graphic artist or dabbling amateur. For Underpainting palette to prep your gives further instruction on Essentials’
the rest of us, Corel offers the affordable image. Then, you select a Cloner brush advanced abilities, and the installation
Painter Essentials 3, an approachable type (there are 12 to choose from) and disc contains GeeGuides—animated
painting app that’s easy to use, yet training shorts aimed at kids.
potent enough for when you’re ready to Other new features: a Quick Clone
get serious. tool, an Eraser tool, a Rubber Stamp
Corel injects Painter Essentials with tool, the ability to hide or display layers
many of the higher-end customizing with a click and drag, and more.
features found in Painter IX, just in Our one major problem with
smaller numbers and variations. The app Essentials: There are only five levels of
includes a total of 18 different brush undo. Sure, five may be enough for most
types (Artists’ Oils, Crayons, Digital of us, but many modern apps let you
Watercolors, Pattern Pens, Tinting, and undo an unlimited number of steps. It
more) and multiple ways to modify brush would’ve been nice if this one did, too,
behavior and surface textures. And while especially when you get particularly
most pro Painter IX users work with a carried away with your creations.
pen-and-tablet input device, Corel made Create fancy borders with Essentials’ The bottom line. Whether you’re
sure that Essentials works well with a Pattern Pens or Image Hose. looking for an easy way to achieve the
mouse—though if you do decide to get appearance of a painting or just looking
serious, you’ll find that a pen and tablet use the Autopainting palette to select to play around, Painter Essentials 3 is
give you far greater control. the Brush Stroke, Pressure, Brush Size, a great place to start. It’s a serious app
Essentials’ new Photo Painting Randomness (how the strokes are that harnesses a small part of Painter IX’s
palettes let you convert a photo into applied), and other painting attributes. power. It can grow with your abilities.
a painting without breaking a sweat, After you’ve applied the Autopainting —Steven Parke and Roman Loyola

COMPANY: Corel REQUIREMENTS: G3, Mac OS GOOD NEWS: Easy to use. Cool Photo Painting
CONTACT: 800-772-6735, 10.2.8 or later, 256MB RAM, 150MB features make painting fun.
www.corel.com disk space, 1,024-by-768-pixel or BAD NEWS: Limited undo.
PRICE: $99 higher display resolution

42 May 2006
44 REVIEWS
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Apple could take a page


from Swift Publisher
for its own document-
creation app, Pages.

clip-art library or the Internet. You can


also import graphic files, including
native Photoshop (PSD) and Illustrator
(AI) files.
While Swift Publisher’s feature set
isn’t nearly as broad as its high-end
cousins, it matches up quite well in many
key areas. For example, typographic
features include line spacing (leading),
space before paragraphs, standard
alignments (left, centered, right,
and justified), hyphenation, kerning,
baseline shift, drop shadows, OpenType
support, and text and paragraph styles.
You can also crop, scale, flip, tile, and
colorize any graphic.
Before you start thinking that Swift
Publisher is a high-end contender,

Swift Publisher consider a few of its limitations: It has


no support for color separations, color
trapping, or Pantone colors. While
LIKABLE CONSUMER-LEVEL PAGE-LAYOUT APP you can add, delete, and move pages,

E ven if you’ve spent lots of time with


InDesign or QuarkXPress, you’ll
be impressed with Swift Publisher, a
several template categories—including
Cards, Catalogs, Certificates, Flyers,
Letterheads & Fax, Menus, Newsletters,
there aren’t any master pages, per se
(each document page has its own
background). There’s also no automatic
consumer-level word-processing and and Posters—and you can create your page numbering, no table-of-contents
page-layout app. It combines an intuitive own custom templates. Each category generation, and no indexing feature.
interface, a limited but versatile feature includes several predesigned layouts The minimal documentation reads like
set, and gobs of templates and clip art. with placeholder text, placeholder a poor translation. A typical example:
Swift Publisher has much in common graphics, and text and paragraph “The ‘Object causes wrap’ chechbox
with Apple’s Pages, which comes with styles; there are also blank layouts [sic] enables/disables the selected
the Keynote presentation app in iWork with standard dimensions. object wrapping by text. When wrap
’06 ( , p38). Pages is definitely Page maker. A Swift Publisher is enables [sic], you can select type of
stronger than Swift Publisher in some publication consists of text rectangles, wrapping.” Fortunately, the interface is
areas; for example, Pages includes graphics, and lines, so building a page quite intuitive.
chart-making capabilities, tables, tables is much like building a page with any The bottom line. Swift Publisher
of contents, footnotes, bookmarks, page-layout app—you add objects to doesn’t have nearly as many word-
hyperlinks, and character styles, and a page, and then you modify them. processing features as Microsoft
it lets you export Word, HTML, RTF, Swift Publisher includes a staggeringly Word (thankfully), nor does it have
and Plain Text files. Then again, iWork large library of clip art—over 23,000 as many typographic, page-layout,
costs more than twice as much as Swift images—though the quality varies. long-document, or printing features as
Publisher, and it doesn’t include any clip Some graphics are quite good, but high-end page-layout apps. Then again,
art or nearly as many templates. many are bitmaps that are ill-suited for Swift Publisher isn’t aimed at high-
To create a publication, you can use high-resolution output (though perfectly end publishers. It’s more for schools,
any of several dozen templates that adequate for your inkjet or laser printer). students, nonprofits, churches, and
are included with You can also display your iPhoto library small businesses that want to produce
ON THE the app, or you can in the clip-art panel, or you can choose a nice-looking color publications in small
DISC start with a blank folder of graphics to display. A keyword quantities, but don’t need an expensive,
Swift Publisher
document. There are search lets you hunt through the built-in industrial-strength app.—John Cruise

COMPANY: BeLight Software REQUIREMENTS: GOOD NEWS: Versatile feature set. Easy to use. Lots of templates
CONTACT: +380 48 738-08-49, Mac OS 10.3 or later and clip art. Reasonably priced.
www.belightsoft.com BAD NEWS: Doesn’t compare favorably to Pages in some areas.
PRICE: $39.95 (retail), $34.95 (download) Few features for long documents. Documentation needs work.

44 May 2006
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46 REVIEWS
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The EasyShare-
One’s Wi-Fi lets
you keep the
cables where they
belong—in the box.

and image quality;


it’s one of the best
LCDs we’ve seen on
a camera.
The EasyShare-
One’s photos showed
good sharpness and
shadow detail, and
the built-in electronic
flash does a great job
indoors. Several pictures
taken in poorly lit rooms showed
all the detail we could hope for. One
caution: The flash can burn out detail if

EasyShare-One
you’re too close, as it did with our close-
ups of flowers.
One thing gave us pause: The
EasyShare-One offers none of the
WI-FI CAMERA
usual Fine, Normal, Best, or other JPEG

I f your Mac can go wireless, why not


your camera? Kodak’s EasyShare-One
uses Wi-Fi to transfer your images to your
select Share, and then select Transfer
on the camera. Simple, and no cable
to fuss with.
compression options. Instead, the
EasyShare-One increases or decreases
the image’s pixel count. The camera is
Mac or an online photo-sharing service— Stylus screen. The EasyShare-One equipped with a four-megapixel imager;
you’re no longer tethered to your Mac. has a three-inch touchscreen LCD for use the built-in 256MB of memory, for
To transfer photos to an online photo- framing shots and navigating options example, with the camera set at four
sharing service such as Flickr (www using a stylus (housed on the right megapixels, and you can store 150
.flickr.com) or Kodak’s EasyShare edge of the camera body), though we images. Want more images? You have to
Gallery (www.kodakgallery.com), you found the stylus to be uncomfortable in reduce the pixel count (your options are
simply need access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. big hands. The LCD has an articulated 3.5, 2.1, and 1.1 megapixels) or swap
We took the EasyShare-One to a coffee mount like the kind found on a video in a new SD card. Which setting should
shop and, using the shop’s free Wi-Fi camera—very helpful when shooting you choose? For posting to the Web, you
hotspot, transmitted images to our from different levels. The EasyShare- can use lower settings. Read “Maximum
online photo-sharing service (the One doesn’t have an optical viewfinder, Output” (left) for more advice on
camera sends the images via email). but the LCD has excellent color fidelity choosing the right setting for printing.
Over the course of several visits (we One minor niggle: The center of your
love nonfat, double-shot, half-caf, MAXIMUM OUTPUT framed image in the LCD doesn’t match
no-foam lattes), we weren’t surprised According to the EasyShare-One’s manual, with the center of the shot photo—you
TIP

to find that transmission times varied you can create a 20-by-30-inch print out of have to compensate as you frame your
depending on the size of the file sent a four-megapixel image; the manual also shots. On the other hand, the Autofocus
and the amount of network traffic. states you can go as large as 5 by 7 inches framing brackets move, collapse, or
If you’re concerned about security, from a 1.1-megapixel image. But in our increase in size within the display based
the camera offers different levels of experience, the largest print you should on what the camera perceives as your
make from a four-megapixel image is 8 by focus point—very helpful.
encryption.
10 inches, with the brave of heart daring
While you can’t make Wi-Fi transfers The bottom line. The EasyShare-One
11 by 14 inches—you lose image quality if
using iPhoto, you can send pictures to makes it easy to shoot nice photos,
you go any bigger. With the EasyShare-One
your Mac using the bundled EasyShare set to 1.1 megapixels, a 4-by-5-inch print
easy to transfer them to your Mac, and
software: Just connect the camera to is more realistic. easy to share them. It’s easy to like the
your network, select your pictures, EasyShare-One.—Rick Oldano

COMPANY: Kodak REQUIREMENTS: G3, Mac OS GOOD NEWS: Wi-Fi transmissions work well. Excellent LCD.
CONTACT: 800-235-6325, 10.3 or later, 128MB RAM, 200MB Good image quality and color fidelity.
www.kodak.com disk space, Wi-Fi (to receive wireless BAD NEWS: Lack of JPEG options. Can’t use iPhoto with Wi-Fi
PRICE: $599.95 transmissions) transfers. Stylus may be too small for big hands.

46 May 2006
C

CM

MY

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CMY

K
40 watts of LOUD portable power

Be the biggest bass in the place. Designed to work with


nearly any portable music source, the BoomTube H201 portable
In its closed position, lightweight
speaker system transforms personal MP3 players, cellular materials and integral speakers
make portability a snap!
MP3 phone and even notebook computers into a portable
party. The built-in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries keep
the sound pumping for up to 5 hours on a charge, and the
Speakers easily unlock and can
whole package fits neatly in a backpack or overnight bag be placed up to three feet from
the powerful base tube for
for go-anywhere portability. So...why are you still here?
maximum stereo sound.

Available at: www.thinkoutside.com

10 South 3rd Street


San Jose, California 95113

408.551.4545 x100
48 REVIEWS
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Wave Editor
INNOVATIVE AND INTRICATE AUDIO-EDITING SOFTWARE

what you can do in Wave


Editor’s Layers can be
done more logically in
a GarageBand-esque
app. Like Photoshop’s
composite modes,
layers can affect each
other through one
of four modes: Add,
Subtract, Duck, and
Ring. It’s questionable
how useful these modes
are, however—on the
whole, the Layers
feature ends up being
a less elegant means
of accomplishing what
multitrack apps can do
more easily.
Hide and seek. In
its attempt to provide
Wave Editor offers unique and useful features—but they’re not that apparent without some digging around. the cleanest possible
interface, Wave Editor

A n audio editor should provide an


intuitive interface for manipulating
and processing waveforms. Audiofile
Wave Editor file, it’s easier to go back
and make changes to a sound. Without
those edits, you’d have to start all
hides some of its key features behind
Contextual Menus and relies too
much on modifier keys for performing
Engineering’s Wave Editor takes an over again from the original sound file tasks—and it’s not always clear where
innovative approach to working with (assuming you didn’t save over it) to to Control-click to bring up Contextual
audio files, but its context-dependent make a nonlinear change. Menus. The ability to view Edit Blocks—
interface takes some getting used to. You can also create fades between one of the app’s most unique features—
Wave Editor uses Edit Blocks— Edit Blocks, handy for mastering isn’t an option in the menu bar, nor is
movable audio regions that can be cut, CD playlists. The easiest and most there a button to turn them on and off.
copied, pasted, truncated, expanded, interactive way to create fades is to hold You must either use the Splice command
shifted forward and backward, turned down a modifier key and drag the corner or Control-click an empty area just
on and off, and even processed without of an Edit Block. For example, by holding above the waveform, which brings up
affecting the original file. In a traditional down Shift and dragging the upper-right a Contextual Menu containing the Edits
audio editor, waveform editing is a corner, you create a fade-out. By holding option. There’s a fine line between clean
permanent deal, but with Edit Blocks, down Shift-Command and dragging the and hidden.
you can delete all but a sliver of the same corner, you create a cross-fade. The bottom line. Audiofile
original audio and restore the entire You can also make fades numerically in Engineering’s Wave Editor offers a
waveform by simply expanding the Edit the Edit List if you’re looking for precise useful and unique method for editing
Block in which the audio resides. Plus, control (or if you haven’t memorized the audio files. However, while the
the audio can be saved as Wave Editor modifier keys). developer’s intention was to create
files with edits intact, unlike other audio Wave Editor also has a Layers feature a clean and context-based interface,
apps that only save generic sound files. that works like Photoshop’s layers—you the end result requires a good deal of
For sound designers, can stack sounds nondestructively to hunting and pecking. If you’re looking
ON THE this is a welcome create a composite sound. It’s unique for new ways to edit audio files, Wave
DISC feature; with all your and pretty darn neat, but it treads into Editor is worth a look—just be ready to
Wave Editor
edits intact inside a multitrack waters; for the most part, put in some prep time.—Andrew Tokuda

COMPANY: Audiofile Engineering REQUIREMENTS: GOOD NEWS: Edit Blocks and Layers are new paradigms for
CONTACT: www.audiofile-engineering.com Mac OS 10.4 or later audio editing. Creative method for implementing audio fades.
PRICE: $250 BAD NEWS: Relies heavily on modifier keys and Contextual
Menus. Simple tasks aren’t in the menu.

48 May 2006
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50 REVIEWS
better living through smarter shopping

Sorenson Squeeze 4.1


BUDDING MEDIA-COMPRESSION SUITE

S orenson Squeeze 4.1 is the latest


video cruncher du jour, and while it
generally does a nice job compressing
and more. Although primarily oriented
toward video compression, Squeeze also
does a decent job with MP3 files and
Processing pickles. Squeeze
performed decently on a dual 2GHz
Power Mac G5, and it even did its mojo
output, there are a few things it could does wonders with Macromedia Flash as a background task without a major
handle a tad better. animation files. performance hit (as long as whatever
Squeeze’s clean, uncluttered You can open files in Sorenson we were doing in the foreground wasn’t
interface presents most of the app’s Squeeze or have the app watch a a processor hog, such as 3D or video
core capabilities. The app supports an designated folder on the desktop. rendering). One major processing gripe:
incredibly robust variety of video formats You can also capture video directly There’s no meaningful status indicator
for output, with all the digital-video into Squeeze, a welcome addition for outside of a simple progress bar. We’re
spoiled by the rather
Sorenson Squeeze features a clean, extensive status display
uncluttered interface for making found in Autodesk
movies of just about any flavor you Cleaner ($549, http://
can imagine. usa.autodesk.com). The
online help is browser
based (there’s no
printed manual), and
shockingly, there’s no
way to search the online
help by keywords—
simply unforgivable.
Another quirk is
a holdover from the
app’s Windows origins.
When we tried to import
movies without a .mov
suffi x, Squeeze simply
refused to recognize
them. We’re used to
this kind of silliness
in Windows, but it’s
inexcusable on a Mac.
biggies represented: QuickTime, MPEG video production. Squeeze’s decent Another nuisance is that you can’t
of all flavors, Real Media, and Windows processing filter can help you tweak specify a separate target folder for
Media Video, though the latter requires the contrast, brightness, and gamma of primary output files—processed video
a third-party plug-in called Flip4Mac your video, and it also offers white and automatically saves in the same folder
($99 for standard-def video, $179 for black restore, video-noise reduction, as the source video, and while there’s
HD video, www.flip4mac.com). The main and deinterlacing. Unfortunately, there a command to allow output files to
are no sharpening or color-enhancement be sent to another folder, you’ll end
Although Squeeze is primarily filters, both of which are crucial for up with twice as many files as you
a video compressor, it does a video sweetening. You can, however, actually want. As if to make up for
decent job with MP3 files and preview filter effects in a split-screen this annoyance, there’s an option to
does wonders for Flash files. mode in the main preview area, a automatically put copies of processed
welcome goodie. The only option files on a remote FTP server—a great
interface lists these video formats in the for audio is a Normalize command feature.
left column, and clicking the disclosure (which fixes stray levels), but Squeeze The bottom line. Sorenson Squeeze
triangle next to each reveals a list of offers nothing by way of equalization, has the potential to be a successor to
format templates for different target dithering, or noise reduction— Media Cleaner Pro—if Sorenson cleans
bandwidths, sizes, compression ratios, noticeable omissions. up its quirks.—David Biedny

COMPANY: Sorenson Media REQUIREMENTS: G4, Mac OS GOOD NEWS: Excellent video-format support.
CONTACT: 801-313-8150, 10.2 or later, 128MB RAM, 90MB disk Background processing. Advanced FTP capabilities.
www.sorensonmedia.com space, QuickTime 6.5.1 or later BAD NEWS: File-extension wackiness. Incomplete
PRICE: $449 progress-status indicator. Weak documentation.

50 May 2006
REVIEWS
51
Handles photos
like a champ.

MP950 comes packed with a 5-


by-7-inch album binder and 10
sheets of double-sided media.
Scan. The Pixma MP950
includes a film guide mount for
capturing slides and negatives
with optical resolutions of
up to 3,200 by 6,400 dpi. In
our tests, scans of negatives
produced images far better than
the original 4-by-6-inch lab prints
made from the same negatives.
And while the Pixma MP950 isn’t
what you’d call “speedy,” there’s
something inherently pleasing
about going straight from scanning
an image to producing a full-color 4-
by-6-inch print without bothering with
your Mac. We produced (scanned and

Pixma MP950 printed at the same time) consistently


impressive copies of 4-by-6-inch
snapshots at a rate of just under 50
PHOTO-CENTRIC MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER seconds per copy.

W hile most multifunction printers


have business users in mind,
Canon’s Pixma MP950 focuses on
The Pixma MP950 uses seven ink
cartridges: photo cyan, photo magenta,
pigment black, black, cyan, magenta,
Print. When it comes to printing via
PictBridge or directly from memory
cards, the Pixma MP950 is even better
the needs of photo enthusiasts—hey, and yellow. Replacement ink cartridges than Canon’s standalone Pixma iP4200
photographers need desk space, too. cost $14.25 ($16.25 for pigment black) photo printer ( Dec/05, p56).
The MP950 packs the power of a digital through Canon’s Web site. The MP950 Its 3.6-inch LCD display lets you take
photo studio, with all the features you can handle media sizes ranging from a good look at your shots, eliminate
expect for capturing, viewing, editing, 2.13 by 3.39 inches (the size of a credit red-eye, adjust lighting, and tweak the
and printing stunning images. card) to 8.5 by 14 (legal). Like its Pixma sharpness in your shots before you
The Pixma MP950 rides Canon’s wave siblings, the MP950 can print double- commit them to paper.
of sleek industrial design. At 18.5 by sided photos in 4-by-6-inch, 5-by-7-inch, Enamored as we were with the
16.5 by 10 inches, the Pixma MP950 is and 8.5-by-11-inch sizes, so you can MP950’s photo mojo, it’s the printer’s
sizable, but it still takes up less space create picture-packed photo albums clean, friendly menu interface that really
than a printer and scanner sitting side with nothing more than a binder cover knocked us out. From the moment we
by side on your desk. The Pixma MP950 and your prints. To get you started, the tapped the power button and snapped
connects to your Mac via USB (cable in the ink cartridges, the Pixma MP950
not included—cheapskates), or you never left us wondering what we should
FLIP THE SWITCH
can print directly from your PictBridge- do next. Press Copy, Scan, or Photo/
TIP

Don’t turn off your inkjet printer


compatible digital camera. There are Film, and the Pixma MP950 walks you
by simply flipping the switch on
also card slots for your CompactFlash your power strip—use the printer’s
through the task. It wouldn’t be any
card, Microdrive, SmartMedia card, power switch instead. Most inkjet
easier if the printer grew hands and
Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SD printers run a routine to protect changed its own paper. (Though we’d
card, and MultiMediaCard (MMC). The their print heads before they still love to see that—get to work on it,
built-in IrDA (Infrared Data Association) turn themselves off. Cutting the will ya, Canon?)
port can be used to print from IrDA power at the power strip prevents The bottom line. The MP950 makes
devices, but only when printing JPEGs the printer from performing this other do-it-all printers look like crude
smaller than 3MB. A Bluetooth adapter important task. stone tools. We’ll clear off a place on our
is available for $79.99. desk for it.—Robert Strohmeyer

COMPANY: Canon REQUIREMENTS: GOOD NEWS: Beautiful one-step photocopying with


CONTACT: 800-828-4040, Mac OS 10.2.4 or later scanning and printing thrown in.
www.canon.com BAD NEWS: Large. Doesn’t include USB cable.
PRICE: $399.99

May 2006 51
52 REVIEWS
better living through smarter shopping

iKey Portable USB Recorder


LIMITED PORTABLE AUDIO RECORDER

T he iKey is a portable consumer-


level audio interface designed for
recording audio to any USB-based
you’ll need to dig up a special utility or
tricky workaround.
One glaring omission is the ability
storage device, including your iPod. to hear what you’re recording, as the
The idea of capturing compressed iKey has no audio output—not even a
MP3 or uncompressed WAV to a tiny, headphone jack. Your only feedback is
inexpensive USB flash drive is great, a single LED that remains unlit when the
but the iKey falls short in a couple of audio level is optimal.
key areas. Given the iKey’s portability (and
To use the iKey, you connect it to a A good idea that deserves better execution. the recent boom in podcasting), a
USB storage device via the iKey’s single microphone input would have bolstered
USB port. The iKey’s stereo RCA inputs When you use an iPod with a USB the iKey’s usefulness immensely. As it
accept a line-level audio signal that you connector as the storage device, the stands, you’ll need to buy additional
can adjust using the iKey’s input-volume recordings are immediately available for equipment if the audio source isn’t
wheel. Using the Sel button, you choose listening. Snazzy as that might be, the coming from or going through some
a file format (MP3 at 128, 192, or 256 downside is that you can’t easily transfer line-level output device.
Kbps, or 16-bit 44.1KHz uncompressed the audio files from the iPod to your Mac. The bottom line. The iKey is a good
WAV); the Rec button starts and stops The manual suggests a method involving idea, but it misses the mark in terms of
recording. Mac OS X’s Terminal, but it’s a hassle— practicality.—Andrew Tokuda

COMPANY: iKey-Audio REQUIREMENTS: USB storage GOOD NEWS: Great concept.


CONTACT: 732-738-9003, device or iPod with USB connectivity BAD NEWS: No audio output. Poor monitoring capabilities.
www.ikey-audio.com No microphone input. iPod recording is more a novelty than
PRICE: $229.99 practical.

iPod Showcase
Orbino Luxury Cases Case-mate Leather Case iPod Mounting Solutions

The World’s Finest iPod Case.


By Orbino: a collection of very special
cases crafted entirely by hand in Italy
for perfect form and functionality.
Features: Protect Your Music with a
Premium Form-Fit Leather Case Taking your music with you
• Patented spring-loaded polished
by Case-mate. is even easier with ProClip!
metal belt clip and desk stand
Buttery-soft Napa leather ProClip mounting solutions are
• Premium Italian leathers
surrounds our impact-resistant the best way to mount your iPod in
• Hand-stitched in Italy plastic shell. An ultra-soft felt your vehicle. The mount clips on in
• Durashield screen and clickwheel interior secures your iPod. Each seconds without interior damage.
protector Case-mate case comes with a For details on ProClip mounting
• Connector access full-face screen protector and fully solutions for your iPod as well
• Available models: video-capable removable belt clip. as your other devices, visit:
iPod, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle www.case-mate.net www.proclipusa.com
www.orbino.com 866-689-3432 800-296-3212

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REVIEWS
53

iPod Hi-Fi
NICE-ENOUGH iPOD SPEAKER STAND

I f you want a good-sounding iPod


speaker system, you can spend as little
as $149.99 for the Logitech mm50 (www
juuust enough boom
to our rap selections
that we thought about
.logitech.com) or as much as $399.99 for wiring the Hi-Fi into
the Klipsch iFi (www.klipsch.com). The the trunk of our car. The Hi-Fi looks cool without its black-mesh covering.
iPod Hi-Fi (see “That’s Entertainment!”, Performance was
p10), nestles into the upper end of that nice enough, if less impressive, when We’re disappointed with the Hi-Fi’s
range at $349. Its sound quality goes a it came to other musical styles. The iPod integration. The Hi-Fi comes with
long way toward justifying its price tag, staccato horns and pizzicato strings an Apple Remote, but it only controls
but we can’t help wishing for more from in orchestral works, for example, were playback and volume—you can’t use it
the company that invented the iPod itself. more crisply reproduced by the Klipsch to navigate the iPod’s menus. There’s
In our testing, the Hi-Fi sounded iGroove ($279.99) we had set up next to also no video-out port and no way to

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF APPLE


best on pop music with a vocal bent; it the Hi-Fi. And despite Apple’s marketing connect the Hi-Fi to your Mac for sync.
delivered a warmth and presence that hype to the contrary, there’s no way The bottom line. The Hi-Fi’s sound
suited the intimacy of the vocals. The the Hi-Fi can replace a decent home quality is good enough to earn it our
same held true for classical guitar and stereo—size and separation do matter, Great rating, but we can’t help thinking
string quartets. On the latter, the Hi-Fi’s and both Frank Zappa and Franz Liszt about how Awesome it could be with
impressive bass—for its size—provided suffer when crammed into a 6.6-by-17- either a lower price or some innovative
a satisfying bottom end. The bass gave by-6.9-inch box. iPod-oriented features.—Jake Widman

COMPANY: Apple REQUIREMENTS: iPod GOOD NEWS: Sounds good for its size. No power brick.
CONTACT: 800-692-7753 or BAD NEWS: Pricey. No extra features or functions.
408-996-1010, www.apple.com
PRICE: $349

iPod Showcase
Elite Audio Gear DecalGirl iPod Gear PodsPlus Aluminum Case

Protect and Personalize


6i Isolator Earphones deliver Your iPod.
detail, balance, comfort, DecalGirl’s adhesive-backed vinyl
and value. skins allow you to both protect and Protect your iPod from
The in-ear secure fit reduces personalize your iPod with hundreds scratches and bumps.
background noise so you can listen of hot designs, and they remove Made of aircraft-grade aluminum
at safe levels. Hear crisp, clear without leaving any nasty goo. with interior neoprene lining, this
music inside your head. Great for Now offering crystal-clear screen high-quality case is strong and
travel and working out. Available protectors for even more protection! lightweight. The iPod screen is fully
online or at Apple Stores and other Save 10% using the code MACADD. protected. A removable swivel belt
retail locations worldwide. www.decalgirl.com/ma clip is included.
www.etymotic.com 866-841-0922 www.podsplus.com

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54 REVIEWS
better living through smarter shopping

Officejet Pro K550


SPEEDY BUSINESS INKJET PRINTER

O ne thing you can say about the


Officejet Pro K550: It’s fast. And this
is a business inkjet printer we’re talking
(ppm)—not as fast as the 16-
ppm rating, but acceptable.
An Excel chart and spreadsheet
about; the K550 is a viable alternative to printed at close to 4 ppm, and
a color laser if speed is a priority in your a 15-page full-color PowerPoint
small-business workspace. presentation printed at just under 5
The K550 connects to your Mac via ppm—good speed for an inkjet printer.
USB and has a 250-sheet media tray. Charts, graphs, and text look great, Just like a muscle car—fast and noisy.
Ink comes in separate cyan, magenta, even on plain paper. Don’t rely on the
yellow ($17.16 each), and black ($22.86) K550 for top-notch photos, however—its (For reference, the black ink was at
cartridges; you also need to install a color fidelity doesn’t match that of a 51 percent after printing 250 pages in
pair of print heads. The helpful bundled photo inkjet that uses more ink colors. Word; yellow and magenta were both at
HP Printer Utility software can tell you One important note: After printing our 76 percent after our PowerPoint test).
ink levels, run diagnostics, clean and 15-page PowerPoint presentation once The bottom line. If you want the
calibrate print heads, and more. in Normal mode, we ran out of cyan ink. speed of a color laser printer at a more
Speed is the K550’s strong suit. A 50- Our test presentation is a bit heavy on affordable up-front cost, the K550
page Word document printed (in Normal cyan-based colors, but to run out of can fit the bill—just have plenty of ink
mode) at a rate of 11 pages per minute cyan after a single print run is a concern. cartridges on hand.—Roman Loyola

COMPANY: Hewlett-Packard REQUIREMENTS: GOOD NEWS: Fast. Good business-graphics image quality.
CONTACT: 800-752-0900, Mac OS 10.2 or later BAD NEWS: Noisy. Consumes ink quickly. Unimpressive
www.hp.com photo quality.
PRICE: $199

Thin Digital FM
Radio & FM
Give and
BASIC NOTEBOOK BAG
receive.

T he name of Pinder’s notebook bag says it all: Thin. There’s


not a whole lot to it, but that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes
you don’t want to have to hunt through a complex gathering of
Transmitter for iPod
packets, straps, latches, and zippers— STATIC-PRONE iPOD FM
sometimes you just want a bag.
TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER
The Thin is made of water-
repellent nylon (there are seven
different colors to choose from),
and it has one side pocket for your
K ensington’s latest iPod gadget beams your iPod’s tunes to your
FM radio—and it can tune in to your daily Terry Gross fix, too.
Push-button tuning and four presets let you transmit your iPod’s
’Book’s cables and stuff. The bag music to the whole FM band (88.1MHz to 107.9MHz), so it’s easy
has a quarter-inch of padding, to find an available frequency. However, moving the unit usually
enough to keep your ’Book safe results in static—ditto for FM-radio reception. We tuned in to our
without adding too much bulk. In local NPR station, took a walk, and were intermittently distracted
The perfect bag for going fact, the lack of bulk makes the Thin by static. Also, the device doesn’t feel secure in the iPod’s dock
incognito in the jungle. an ideal ’Book cover if you pack it connector.
into a bigger case during long trips. The bottom line. Apple’s iPod Radio Remote ( Apr/06,
The bottom line. We like Pinder’s simple, svelte Thin for p52) gets cleaner FM reception—but it can’t transmit your tunes to
storing or toting our ’Books.—Michelle Victoria a radio.—Niko Coucouvanis

COMPANY: Pinder Bags PRICE: $49 COMPANY: Kensington PRICE: $79.99


CONTACT: 818-773-8259, REQUIREMENTS: PowerBook, iBook, or MacBook Pro CONTACT: 650-572-2700, REQUIREMENTS: iPod with dock connector
www.pinderbags.com www.kensington.com

GOOD NEWS: Simple, no-frills bag. Available in GOOD NEWS: Two devices in one.
seven different colors. BAD NEWS: Prone to static. Doesn’t
BAD NEWS: You might find it too simple. connect tightly enough with iPod.

54 May 2006
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GAMES because you play as hard as you work
57

“Give me the Man in


the Yellow Hat! Now!”

TIPS & TRICKS

Black and
White 2
Feral Interactive (www.feralinteractive.com) plans to bring Black ■ Use the hand-force skill to stop an enemy’s earthquake miracle.
and White 2 to the Mac this spring—but we’ve got tips today! ■ If your enemy attacks with catapults, catch the rocks and
In this god-game sequel, common sense is your best weapon, keep them for yourself, or toss them back.
no matter whom you align with. Taking the good path? Care for ■ Near the town where you began in the fourth land, look for a
your pet and your people. On the highway to hell? Have your pet path that leads down the hill. Find the hermit in the cave, and
unload its bowels on the populace. Whatever road you choose, throw him as far as you can. The further you throw him, the
these tips will help. more tribute you’ll receive.—Matt Osborn

The Sims 2 University but as with most versions of The Sims,


performance in these public areas is
LACKLUSTER EXPANSION PACK slouchy. In fact, load times felt very
long in general, even on our dual 2GHz

T he Sims 2 University expansion


lets you take your Sim through
four Sims-years of college, attending
As with The Sims 2, you need to keep
your Aspiration meter high by doing
certain tasks, such as meeting someone
Power Mac G5. Also, there are some
time-sync mismatches between your
Sims and the environment—they don’t
classes, doing assignments, and taking new or buying a tree (yes, buying a tree). affect gameplay, but they do make you
exams, all while making new friends, You build up your class-performance go, “Huh?”
adjusting to dorm life, and (if you wish) meter—which determines your grade—by The bottom line. University adds an
rushing a Greek house—but by the time doing assignments, writing term papers, entertaining new dimension to The Sims
graduation day rolls around, this school and keeping up your skill levels. Do well, 2, and it’s super-fun when you first start
has become a bit of a grind. and you’ll earn money in the form of playing. After four “years,” however, the
grants. Blow off homework, and you’ll game starts to feel repetitive.—Cathy Lu
have to repeat the semester. When you
graduate, you move back to the normal COMPANY: Aspyr, 512-708-8100, www.aspyr.com
PRICE: $34.99
Sims neighborhood and start your career. REQUIREMENTS: 1.25GHz G4, Mac OS 10.3.9 or
While University still has Aspiration later, 256MB RAM, 2GB disk space, 32MB Radeon
9000 or GeForce FX5200 or better, full version of
points, which let you buy cool stuff The Sims 2
such as a counterfeit-money machine,
GOOD NEWS: Lots of new college-themed items. Fun
the expansion introduces fun Influence new Influence system.
points, which give you power over other BAD NEWS: Performance can still be poky. Game
Sims, persuading them to do things like feels repetitive by the end.
pull pranks or clean up the house.
RATED
We’re geeks, so writing our semester term Campus life includes hanging out in
paper is top priority. the student lounge or going shopping—
SOLID

May 2006 57
58 GAMES
because you play as hard as you work

Don’t feed the animals—


but blowing bubbles at
them is OK.

and they swoon over


fountains, statues, and
other eye candy.
You can hire a staff to
keep your zoo running
smoothly. Zookeepers
feed, clean up after, and
tend to your animals if
they happen to fall ill.
Maintenance workers
keep your grounds clean,
much to the pleasure of
your guests. Educators
teach your guests about
the animals in your park.
All these roles are vital to
the success of your zoo,
but make sure you don’t
overdo it—a large staff

Zoo Tycoon 2 means a large payroll, which can quickly


eat up huge chunks of revenue.
Up close. Zoo Tycoon 2 adds a new
EXPANSIVE SIMULATION GAME first-person perspective, which offers a

T he latest version of Zoo Tycoon


has new play modes, enhanced
environment-editing tools, more park
animals and nurse them back to health.
In Challenge mode, you start from
scratch with a limited amount of money
nice change of pace from the omniscient
view. In this mode, you can go on photo-
safari challenges to take photos of
objects, and more animals to choose and resources, and are rewarded with animals in action. You can also assume
from—all great additions that boost additional resources as your zoo’s the role of a zookeeper or guest to get
replay value and challenge you to build popularity grows. Lastly, in Freeform down and dirty with the animals and
bigger and better zoos. mode, you’re granted unlimited funds to grounds yourself (and give your payroll
As in the original, your goal in Zoo run your zoo as you like—your only goals a break at the same time) or just mingle
Tycoon 2 is to build the ultimate zoo, are those you set for yourself. with the guests and enjoy the exhibits
stocking a diverse collection of animals Animal urges. Tend to the basic firsthand.
while managing buildings, finances, and needs of your animals and guests While the 3D graphics in Zoo Tycoon
maintenance. You also need to find ways (they’ll clue you into their pressing 2 are simplistic by today’s standards,
to keep your guests happy, because needs with emoticons that pop up we still enjoyed the sights. We didn’t
happy guests fill your pockets with cash. over their heads), and you’ll do just run into any technical glitches, but
Thanks to its three game modes, fine. Mistreat your animals and guests we do strongly recommend a system
you’ll find multiple ways to enjoy Zoo (animals will die if they don’t get food that’s beefier than the stated minimum
Tycoon 2. Campaign mode offers and drink), and you’ll hurt your zoo’s requirements to avoid sluggishness.
different scenarios: Revive a neglected rating. Animals need large, roomy areas The bottom line. Zoo Tycoon 2 offers
zoo, for example, or take in abused that look and feel like their natural a great way learn the ins and outs of
habitats. You create these habitats—or running a zoo—while having lots of fun
biomes in Zoo Tycoon parlance—with at the same time.—Gil Loyola
the biome brush and habitat-editor tool,
which let you generate arctic, desert, COMPANY: MacSoft, 763-231-8000,
forest, and tundra terrains with just a www.macsoftgames.com
PRICE: $39.99
few strokes. You then add animals by
REQUIREMENTS: 800MHz G4, Mac OS 10.2.8 or
clicking creatures at the bottom of the later, 256MB RAM, 32MB VRAM
animal panel and then clicking where GOOD NEWS: Simple-to-use editing tools. Fun first-
you want them placed. Guests enjoy person mode.
tidy surroundings, spacious walkways, BAD NEWS: Simplistic graphics.
and quick access to exhibits, food, and
RATED
Create new animal homes with a few clicks restrooms. Guests also like observing a
of the biome brush and habitat-editor tool. wide variety of well-kept, happy animals,
GREAT

58 May 2006
GAMES
59
I N T E L M AC U P DAT E

Games Go Universal
Got a glittering new Intel-based Mac? Want to squeeze all the performance possible
out of it? If you run your old games through Rosetta, you’re only getting a trickle of
what your framerate could be. Many games are getting the Universal Application
Made to treatment, including Unreal Tournament 2004, Postal 2, Doom 3, and Zoo Tycoon 2
shake your rump. (because grazing Zebras via Rosetta just makes them irritable), while new games
such as The Movies and Quake 4 will be Universal right out of the gate. The gaming

ButtKicker community is even getting into the Universal act—the guys at Sqonk Online (www
.sqonk.com.au) have created a Universal version of Quake III.—MO

Gamer
RUMBLIN’ AUDIO
TRANSDUCER

T he ButtKicker Gamer clamps onto


any chair with a center post and
uses low-frequency sound to shake your
seat. The setup requires you to string
a cable from your chair to the included
Gamer Amplifier, a hefty 13-by-3.6-
by-9.3-inch control box that connects
between your Mac’s audio port and
the ButtKicker Gamer. If you like to roll
around in your chair, consider yourself
warned: The cable can get in the way.
We played a few games, including “ Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout,
Doom 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004, Willis? Postal 2 is Universal!”
and listened to a few songs, including
the Beastie Boys’ “Shake Your Rump”
and Peaches and Herb’s “Shake Your
Groove Thing.” Have you ever been at COMING SOON

The Mac Picture Show


the movies and had the person behind
you kick the back of your seat? That’s
what a song’s ButtKicker-enhanced bass In The Movies, you shepherd a blossoming movie studio from the twenties to the
line feels like, except against your bootie modern day, building the studio piece by piece; hiring actors, staff members, and
instead of your spine. Low, rumbling film crews; and researching technology for special effects—but The Movies takes a
game noises result in a consistent step beyond the usual “tycoon” games by allowing you to produce and direct your
vibration—and we found that a 100Hz own movies. There’s a main campaign, a sandbox mode for just playing around,
tone creates a sensation that could and a separate app called Movie Maker that gives you even more creative control
serve as an effective enema alternative. over your films.
Unfortunately, the ButtKicker made our Will you make the
cheapo office chair rattle annoyingly. next blockbuster
The bottom line. The ButtKicker Gamer or the next Ishtar?
adds a new dimension to your gaming or Only pleasing the
music experience, but it’s a novelty you populous (Peter
can live without.—Roman Loyola Molyneux pun
intended) turns
COMPANY: The Guitammer Company, a profit.—MO
888-676-2828, www.thebuttkicker.com
PRICE: $169.95
REQUIREMENTS: Available audio-out port, chair
with center post, good bowel control
GOOD NEWS: Shakes your seat like there’s no
tomorrow. I’m ready for my
BAD NEWS: Cable tethers your chair. close-up, Mr. DeMille!
RATED
THE COMPANY: Feral Interactive, www.feralinteractive.com
SO-SO MOVIES AVAILABLE: Summer 2006 ■ PRICE: TBD

May 2006 59
60
because inquiring minds have the right to be inspired

You sure do. IOXperts Webcam Driver New Mac,


($19.95, on the Disc, www.ioxperts.com/ old app.
products/webcamx.html) supports your
Orbit, as well many other “unsupported”
Webcams. This software lets you use
your Webcam with iChat, QuickTime, and
most apps that can access a Webcam.
To make sure your
ON THE camera works with Challenge at the awesome Macintosh
DISC it, download the free Garden site (http://mac.the-underdogs
IOXperts Webcam demo, or find it on this .org), but the game is so old it won’t even
Driver
month’s Disc. run in Mac OS X’s Classic environment.
Emulation to the rescue! All you need is
BLUE MOUSE PRINTING the Mac Plus emulator Mini vMac (free, on
My Apple Wireless Mouse got all Back in the good old days, I could gang- the Disc, http://minivmac.sourceforge
squirrelly when I upgraded to Mac print a number of documents at once from .net), a bootable system-disk image,
OS 10.4.4. What gives? the Finder. Can’t I do that in Mac OS X? and a ROM file from an actual Macintosh
There are two possible reasons for this, It’s still possible if you create a Desktop Plus. Apple provides the system-disk
both involving Bluetooth firmware. If you Printer and drag your files onto its icon. image for free at its Older Software
use the D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth Open Printer Downloads page (www.info.apple.com/
Adapter that Apple sells ($39.95, www Setup Utility support/oldersoftwarelist.html), but
.apple.com), you might need Bluetooth (/Applications you’ll have to extract the Mac Plus’s
Firmware Updater 1.2—go to www.apple /Utilities) and ROM file yourself with CopyRoms (free, on
.com/support/downloads and search highlight your the Disc, http://minivmac.sourceforge
for bluetooth firmware 1.2. If you use a printer in the .net/extras/copyroms.html). String these
different adapter or your Mac’s built-in printer list. pieces together (instructions are included
Bluetooth, you probably need to update Vive la Desktop Then select with CopyRoms), and
the mouse’s firmware—which you can’t Printer! Printers > ON THE you can run all of your
do from Mac OS 10.4. To update your Create Desktop DISC old favorites from the
Mini vMac, CopyRoms
mouse, you’ll have to pair it with a Mac Printer, and save it to your desktop. Now System 6 days.
running Mac OS 10.3.x and apply the you can print many documents at once
update from that Mac. Get the details by just dragging them onto the Desktop FUN WITH FONTS
at http://docs.info.apple.com/article Printer’s icon on—where else?—your How do I disable Font Book and install
.html?artnum=301282. desktop. Extensis Suitcase as my font manager
instead?
CAM QUICKENER MAC PLUS REVIVAL Mac OS X’s Font Book is a decent font-
My Logitech QuickCam Orbit worked Remember that Mac Plus–era game NFL management tool, but it’s not a full-blown
fine until I upgraded to Mac OS 10.3. Challenge? I still have a copy—can I font manager—Suitcase (or the new
Now it doesn’t work. Logitech claims play it on my new Mac with Mac OS X? Suitcase Fusion) is. All Font Book does
that it won’t work with Mac OS 10.3 or Ah, abandonware. Gone, but for the is help install and uninstall fonts, create
later—do I have any options? memories—or is it? We found NFL collections and libraries of fonts, and

SANITY SAVER When FireWire gets flaky, you can


Where can I get more screen savers for indeed reset it. Shut down your Mac,
Mac OS X? and unplug its power cord and any
As you may know, screen savers aren’t attached FireWire devices. After about
as important as they used to be, but eye 10 minutes, reconnect the power cord
candy never goes out of style. The mighty and restart your Mac. Once it’s running,
ResExcellence (www.resexcellence.com/ cross your fingers and plug in one of
CORNY CORNER screensavers.shtml) still has the coolest your FireWire devices.
I have a window that I can’t resize in selection, as well as a thorough tutorial
the Finder because the resizer corner on creating your own screen savers. SAY MAC, GOT THE TIME?
extends way down off my screen. Help! Can I set my Mac to tell me the time?
This is a job for the oft-overlooked FIREWIRE REKINDLING Launch System Preferences > Date &
window-zooming green widget at the My Mac’s FireWire ports are acting Time, click the Clock tab, and check
top left of the window. This resets your awfully weird. Is there a reset button or the box labeled Announce The Time.
window to its original size and position. something? You can then choose the frequency of

52
60 August
May 2006
2005
DIFFICULTY No whining—
anyone
It’ll take some
effort, but you
This stuff’s
for the pros.
HOW TO
61
RATINGS can do this! can do it.

troubleshoot duplicate or corrupt fonts—


all the font finagling most of us ever UNIX UNIVERSITY
need. Font Book leaves your fonts in their
regular installed locations; a true font FUNIX!
manager such as Suitcase actually stores You guys are always “maintenance this” and “utility that” when you talk
them and activates the fonts you need about Unix. Isn’t there any fun to be had via the command line (other than
when you need them. We could go on for playing those god-awful “games”)?
days about the proper care and feeding of Power Unix users live by the command install Apple’s Developer Tools and X11
fonts, but suffice it to say that Font Book line, typically doing geeky, utilitarian from your Mac OS 10.3 or 10.4 install
and Suitcase work fine together. Don’t tasks such as monitoring, maintaining, discs. Then, download and install Fink
worry about uninstalling Font Book. and administrating a system and its users. (free, http://fink.sourceforge.net). Once
All of that administration is undeniably you’re all Finked up, open the Terminal
important, but sometimes you just gotta (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal). Type
dance! To that end, you can play MP3 fink install madplay and press Return
files and get your groove on right from to download and install the player. (If it
the Unix command line; all you need is doesn’t work, you may need to update Fink
a command-line MP3 player, such as by typing fink selfupdate and pressing
Font Book is handy, but it doesn’t do much madplay. But before you can run madplay, Return.) The Terminal will prompt you
that you can’t do manually. you need to do a bit of legwork first: First, when it’s done. When you’re ready to rock,
type madplay and then the path to your
WHAT’S WITH THE “?”? MP3 file (or just drag a folder full of MP3s
My old iMac displays a flashing question into the Terminal window), and press
mark for a few seconds every time I turn Return. Who’s geeky now?
it on—then it goes away and the iMac
boots up fine. Wassup? If you squint your eyes real hard,
Sounds like you’ve got some startup- this blob of text looks just like
disk confusion. Open the Startup Disk iTunes’ eye candy.
control panel (Mac OS 9) or System
Preferences > Startup Disk (OS X),
and check to see if your main drive is (http://docs.info.apple.com/article our favorite being Name Those Files
selected as the startup drive. If it is, and .html?artnum=86181). ($12.50, on the Disc, http://homepage
your Mac still throws you the question .mac.com/jonn8/ntf), which—like every
mark, you probably have a dead PRAM SAY MY NAME, B(I)ATCH other bulk renamer we’ve found—eats
battery. This internal battery remembers I have a zillion digicam picture files any Spotlight comments you’ve added to
what disk to start up from as well as that I want to rename. Is there a way the files. Unlike most of
other stuff such as the date and time. to change their names all at once? ON THE the others, however, it
Any Apple service technician can replace Your Mac should be able to do this on DISC leaves your image files’
Name Those Files
this battery for you for a nominal fee, its own by now—it’s been, what, 22 EXIF metadata intact.
but if you’re daring, you can change it years?—but it still can’t. Shareware to
yourself. Apple lists all battery numbers the rescue! There are several utilities
on its Batteries and Part Numbers page that can help you rename lots of files,

announcements, the voice that reads the MMM, PIE


time, and even the rate of speech. I’ve got no time for math. Is there a way
to see how full my hard drive is?
Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities) And you shall know us by the trail of
Ralph after six provides a lovely graphical view of your renamed files.
cups of coffee. hard drive’s fullness. Launch Activity
Monitor and then click the Disk Usage Buz Zoller is a graphic designer living in
Florida. He has been a devoted Mac
THE ARTIST’S CONUNDRUM tab at the bottom of the window. user for over 10 years and has worked for
Now that I use a Mac, I’m supposed to both Apple and Power Computing.
be all artsy—but how am I supposed to

Submit
draw with a freakin’ mouse? technical questions
We recommend you buy a drawing or helpful tips directly
tablet. Wacom sells them for as little as via email (askus@macaddict.com) or c/o
$99.95—though you could also get their Is the hard drive two-fifths empty or MacAddict, 4000 Shoreline Ct., Ste. 400,
South San Francisco, CA 94080.
top LCD-based one for $3,000. three-fifths full?

May 2006 61
62 HOW TO
podcast like a pro

Podcast Like a Pro


by Niko Coucouvanis

DUCKING CONTROLS Twiddle the arrows to set MEDIA BROWSER All of your
which tracks cause others to duck in volume. other iLife stuff is right here.

PODCAST TRACK
Manage an enhanced
podcast’s artwork
and Web links here.

LOOP LIBRARY
Click the eye icon
to load your loops.

TRACK EDITOR
Flips into Chapter
Manager mode when
the Podcast Track is
present.

ART-ANNOTATED CHAPTER MARKERS MUSICAL TYPING Play your


WHAT YOU NEED Spice up your audio podcast. Mac’s keyboard like a piano.
Mac OS 10.3.9 or later
GarageBand 3 ($79, part of iLife ’06,
www.apple.com)
Microphone (optional)

G
arageBand 3’s Podcasting Studio makes it easier than ever to crank out a righteously professional-sounding
podcast, complete with sound effects, atmospheric background music, snappy intro and outro jingles—even
chapters, artwork, and Web links. With this awesome power at your disposal, it’d be a crime to make a boring,
plain-Blaine podcast—here’s how to avoid that.

1
Enter the Podcasting Studio
Launching GarageBand presents you with some options
for making a new project. Select New Podcast Episode,
and give your project a name in the dialog that follows. The new
podcasting project comes preloaded with a Podcast Track, Male
Voice and Female Voice tracks, and tracks for Jingles and Radio
Sounds. If you’re creating a one-person show and you’re in a
hurry, just click either of the voice tracks, click the red Record
button, and have at it. When you’re done speaking, click Record
again to stop.

Start with a New Podcast Episode—


starting a regular project and adding
a Podcast Track later isn’t the same.

62 May 2006
HOW TO
63

2
Record It in iChat
If you’re making a one-person podcast, proceed press GarageBand’s Record button; GarageBand will alert you
to the next step. In this step, you’ll record an iChat that it’s detected an audio chat and confirm that you’d like to
conversation to spice up your podcast with a compelling guest record. When you’re done, click the Record button again; if the
interview. Or you can use it for some private blackmail fodder— playhead keeps moving, press Play to stop it.
whatever suits your fancy. To record the chat, simply set up
GarageBand as in the previous step, but before pressing Record,
fire up iChat and initiate a chat with your victim—er, guest—by
double-clicking the phone or camera icon by his or her name in
your Buddy List. Alternately, you can highlight the person’s name
on your Buddy List and select Buddies > Invite To Audio Chat. And
FYI, you can’t record a chat initiated by someone else—this trick
only works if you initiate the chat. Once your chatee accepts the
chat (and you disclose that you’re recording the conversation), This is GarageBand’s way of saying “Quiet on the set!”

3
Add Effects on the Fly
If you’re quick on your feet, you can play GarageBand’s or Radio Sounds to load podcast-
sound effects while recording your monologue or iChat appropriate sounds. When you’re
interview. A piano-style USB keyboard makes this easier, but ready to really dig in, click the
you can use GarageBand’s onscreen keyboard and tickle the Details triangle and use its check
ivories with your mouse. Select Window > Keyboard and click boxes and pull-down menus to
the Radio Sounds track to highlight it, which also activates the create some truly bizarre sounds
keyboard. Plink around until you find the sounds you want. To via the onscreen keyboard.
load a different sound-effect kit, double-click the track title in
the Track List to open the Track Info window (or choose Track > You could spend
Show Track Info). Keeping Sound Effects highlighted in the days tweaking your
left-side list, switch to Applause And Laughter, Comedy Noises, sound effects here.

4
Master Musical Typing
You can play Sound Effects by poking around on a couple of times. Drag the segment directly from the timeline to
GarageBand’s onscreen keyboard, but tickling the ivories any key in the Musical Typing window.
with your mouse is annoying—so use your Mac’s keyboard
instead. Select Window > Musical Typing, and highlight the Radio
Sounds track or another Software Instrument track. Click the eye
icon, navigate to a sound effect or loop you want to use, and
drag it from the loop drawer onto the key you want to assign
it in the Musical Typing window—sweet! You can assign your
own sounds to every key on the board—and cooler yet, if your
interview is rife with choice sound-bite fodder, you can isolate
a segment by loading its clip into the Track Editor (double-click Not only can you type via the QWERTY keyboard, you can assign it
the clip) or simply highlighting the clip and selecting Edit > Split your own sounds.

5
Proper Post-Production
At least half the fun of podcasting comes from adding all
the rockin’ radio-style jingles, zany zingers, and stupid
sound effects. Of course, you’ll want way more of them than
you can cram in while recording the live vocal track(s)—and
that’s where post-production comes in. To pepper your podcast
with wackiness, highlight the Jingles track, and if your loops
aren’t loaded, click the eye icon to open the Loop Browser; then
press the podcast icon to load the Jingles, Stingers, and Sound You can have all kinds of fun with podcast sound effects.
Effects. For the standard talk-radio format, drop matching
Jingles at the beginning and end of the show, before and after
any commercial breaks (hey, it could happen), and anywhere RAISE THE BAR
TIP

If your podcast has a perfect fade-out ending, GarageBand


else you need a little pause in the action. The real fun is in
might cut off the tail end. To prevent fadeus interruptus, click
the Stingers and Sound Effects; insert sound effects at will the Cycle Region button to activate the orange Cycle bar in the
by dragging them into position on the Jingles track or another timeline, and then click and drag the end of the Cycle bar out a
Software Instrument track (click the plus-sign icon to add few measures past the end of the project.
another).

May 2006 63
64 HOW TO
podcast like a pro

6
Don’t Forget to Duck
Mixing spoken content with sound effects requires
ducking—dropping the volume of the background to
ensure the important stuff gets heard. How low you duck your
background music is up to you, but we can tell you how to set it:
If you started GarageBand with a new podcast or movie-score
project, you’ll see the ducking controls on each audio track—
otherwise, select Control > Ducking. Click the up arrow on lead Define your
tracks and the down arrow on tracks you want to duck out of the duck: You
way. The track-volume slider only controls the track’s regular specify how
volume; to fine-tune your ducking, open the Track Info pane low the
(press Command-I or select Track > Show Track Info) and select background
Master Track. Find the Ducking Amount slider near the bottom of sounds
the window, and slide it up toward 100 to increase the amount duck to
of ducking—remember, the higher you set the ducking, the avoid the
quieter the sound effects get when you talk. vocals.

7
Enhance Your ’Cast
Now that you’ve got the audio portion of your or click the Add Marker button and drag in your artwork later.
podcast squared away, click the Podcast Track to Click the placeholder text fields (Add Title Here, URL Title, URL)
add enhancements such as chapter markers, Web links, to add chapter titles and Web links. You can later rearrange
and episode artwork. Remember, if you recorded an iChat the order of the Chapter Markers by dragging the regions (each
AV interview, all of the participants’ chat icons (or iSight Chapter Marker designates the beginning of a new region)
snapshots) get automatically added to the Podcast Track around in the timeline, or by altering the numerical value in the
each time the participants speak. Time column. Don’t try dragging Chapter Markers around in
In Podcast mode, GarageBand’s Track Editor magically the Track Editor—that only moves the art, not the marker itself.
sprouts a Chapter Marker manager; click the Media Browser And don’t forget to drag an image into the Episode Artwork
icon to load your iPhoto library. Drag a photo from the Media pane—this is the equivalent of album-cover art, so make sure
Browser directly into the timeline or Chapter Marker manager, it looks good.

You can even embed Web links into your podcast—so where’s that wireless Web-browsing iPod?

8
Stop, Drop, and Crop
Shrinking photos you want to use as podcast art down
to iPod-friendly postage-stamp size doesn’t require
NO iLIFE?
launching iPhoto. Just double-click any piece of artwork in the
Track Editor (including the Episode Artwork and Podcast Preview
NO PROBLEM!
images) to load that image into GarageBand’s Artwork Editor; GarageBand is the easiest way to crank out a killer podcast,
use the slider to scale the image, and then drag the image to but 79 bucks is 79 bucks. These Web sites offer tools, tips,
adjust what appears in the visible center of the crop frame. and even online hosting for your podcasting pursuits—and
the basic services are free with registration.
GARAGEBAND.COM’S Podcast Studio (www.garageband
.com/podcast) seems like it’s wearing a target for Apple’s
lawyers.
PODOMATIC (www.podomatic.com) provides a selection
of canned George W. Bush answers for your fake-interview
pleasure.
ODEO.COM (www.odeo.com) can pipe your podcast directly
to the iTunes Music Store’s Podcast directory.
CLICKCASTER (www.clickcaster.com), currently a free beta,
promotes your own on-demand radio show.

Who says that size Niko Coucouvanis isn’t a regular podcaster, but he’s having a gas
with GarageBand’s new noisemakers.
doesn’t matter?

64 May 2006
HOW TO
65

Bend iWeb to Your Will


by Niko Coucouvanis

WHAT YOU NEED BLOG ENTRIES


SITE
ORGANIZER Create and
Mac OS 10.3.9 or later
Lists all of manage blog
iWeb 1.0.1 ($79, part of entries here.
iLife ’06, www.apple.com) your sites
and pages.
TextWrangler (free, on the
INSPECTOR
Disc, www.barebones.com)
MEDIA WINDOW
BROWSER Lets you

i
Web isn’t a tool for snooty Keeps the tweak almost
Web pros who can recite the rest of iLife anything.
XHTML 2.0 spec backward— within reach.
it’s for the proverbial “rest
of us.” But even the most Click the edge of a mask to activate Use the outer squares
ON THE
unwashed of the Web masses the inner squares to resize, drag, or of a mask to resize or
deserve better; here are some
DISC rotate the mask. drag the image.
TextWrangler
tricks to make iWeb more fun.

1 2
Say “No” to the Nav Bar Squat on Your HomePage Page
A good navigation scheme is To automatically redirect folks from your .Mac account’s
crucial on a busy Web site— HomePage to your new iWeb page, first mount your
but sometimes you want to put up iDisk (in the Finder, choose Go > iDisk > My iDisk). Fire up
secret, unlinked, under-development TextWrangler (free, on the Disc, www.barebones.com) and
pages without links to other parts of open index.html in your /iDisk/Sites folder. Find the redirect
your site. Select the page you want tag: <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=
to hide in iWeb’s Site Organizer, and http://homepage.mac.com/your member name/your
click the Inspector icon. Now click the page name.html”>
Inspector’s Page icon, and remove the and change the URL
checkmark in the box labeled Include to http://web
Page In Navigation Menu. .mac.com/your
member name/
iWeb adds a nav bar to every iWeb/. Save and .Mac’s HomePage is tricky—but it’s no
page, but you can make it stop. close the document. match for your human smarts.

3 4
Take Back the Templates

is what you get” (at least regarding HTML code).


Niko Coucouvanis remembers when WYSIWYG meant “what you steal
Mask Like a Superhero
Click a placeholder image on your page to select it (or To modify iWeb’s stubborn template elements directly,
drag in an image from the Media Browser), and press the quit iWeb, Control-click the iWeb icon (/Applications
Mask button in the lower toolbar (or press Command-Shift-M) /iWeb), select Show Package Contents, and navigate to
to enable the mask-editing mode. A translucent rectangle will /Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Templates/About Me.
appear, framing the central part of the image while masking the Control-click the Baby About Me.webtemplate file, and select
edges. Click anywhere on the image and drag to reposition the Show Package Contents. Open any of the JPEGs inside to inspect
image behind the mask. Now hover the cursor over the edge of their pixel dimensions,
the masked area until the and replace them with
cursor changes from a hand your own JPEGs of the
to an arrow, and click once same dimensions. Use this
to select the mask. Click and method to change any of the
drag the resizing handles templates’ main images and
(the little squares) to resize buttons—even some page-
the mask, or click and drag trim elements. If you want to
anywhere else on the mask tweak the templates further,
You can’t make a custom-shaped to reposition it. If you want to you’ll need to hack the index
image mask, but you can set any edit the mask later, double- .xml.gz file—just be sure to Modifying iWeb templates isn’t
shape’s background to an image. click the image. make a backup of it first. impossible if you’re sneaky.

May 2005 65
66 HOW TO
prettify a page with Pages

Prettify a Page with Pages


by Niko Coucouvanis

TOOLBAR Control- PAGES BUTTON Save page STYLE BUTTON OBJECTS BUTTON STYLES DRAWER
click and select layouts (Format > Advanced Quickly access Insert Text, Shape, Highlight text, and click
Customize Toolbar > Capture Pages), and then your Paragraph Table, or Chart to apply Paragraph,
to put any of Pages’ insert them with this. Styles. objects. Character, or List Styles.
commands in the
toolbar.

VIEW MENU
Quickly toggle This translucent,
visual aids such exploded 3D pie
as the Styles and chart is a master-
Pages Drawers, page object.
rulers, comments,
and more.

COLLABORATION Craft your own


Leave comments for math-defying table.
other users reading
your document.

Option-click an
Inspector icon
to spawn that
Inspector in a
new window.

INSPECTOR Summon the contextual This shape contains multiple shadow


Inspector to tweak settings for any and reflection effects. You can decide
item, object, or the whole document. whether and how text wraps around it.
WHAT YOU NEED
Pages 2 ($79, part of iWork ’06,
www.apple.com)

N
ow that computers rule the world, word processing— Pages 2. Follow along as we dig into Pages’ niftier (and
what the senior set might remember as “typing”—is mildly advanced) tricks to prove that you can live a Wordless
an essential part of modern life. Corollary: Microsoft existence—and a downright enjoyable (not to mention
Word is inevitable. Refutation: Apple has released attractive) one at that.

1
Pretty as a Picture
First, jazz up your page a bit by adding an image inside
a starburst shape and flowing the surrounding text Pages’ cache
gracefully around it. Click the Objects icon in Pages’ toolbar, of graphical
and scroll down to the shape you desire—use the blue handles tricks and
to resize the shape. Click the Media icon in Pages’ toolbar to good-looking
load the Media browser; select iPhoto from the pull-down menu, templates
and drag an image into the shape—again, use the blue corner helps you
handles to resize the image. look your
Now click the Inspector icon in Pages’ toolbar. Click the very best.
Inspector’s Text icon to manipulate the text formatting; click the
Wrap icon to determine how text flows around the shape; and the shape and image remain editable, so mind which object is
click the Graphic icon to meddle with the Fill, Stroke (border), selected—and yes, you can Shift-click to select and edit both
Shadow, Reflection, and Opacity of the shape and image. Both simultaneously.

66 May 2006
HOW TO
67

2
Charts Gone Wild!
Select Insert > Chart (or click the Objects icon in Pages’
toolbar and select Chart). Now click the chart-looking
icon in the Inspector to bring up the Chart controls.
Now add your own data; click the Edit Data button to open the
Chart Data Editor. Once you get all of your data in place, the real
fun begins. Click the Chart Type button on the Chart Inspector,
and pick a different type—we dig the 3D pie chart. Each chart
type has its own stylistic controls, such as lighting and depth This chart doesn’t
for the 3D charts; formatting of labels, axes, numbers, data actually convey any
points; and more. You can even explode the pie charts—whee, information, but damn,
exploding pie! it looks good.

3
Master Thy Pages
To make your chart appear on every page, drag the object
to where you’d like it to appear, and select Format >
Advanced > Move Object To Section Master. If that option is grayed
out, put a paragraph break (press the Return key) immediately
before the object on the page. Select Format > Advanced > Make
Master Objects Selectable, and click the chart to select it. Now You can still select
click the Inspector’s Graphic icon and use the Opacity slider at the and tweak objects
bottom to fade the chart. You can apply the same technique to after adding them
text, images, shape objects—anything that you can put on a page. to the master page.

4
Do the Math
If charts are Pages’ eye candy, then Tables are its
braininess. Insert a Table by selecting Insert > Table (duh)
or by clicking the toolbar’s Objects icon and selecting Table.
Next, click the Inspector’s Table icon. Use the Table section to
set the number of rows and columns and their sizes, and then
click the Numbers tab for the real fun.
Click any table cell and type some data. Once you’ve got
some data entered, you can assign mathematical formulae to
cells (typically to the last cell in a column or row) to process the
data from other cells: Just click a cell to highlight it, and pick a
formula from the pull-down menu. Too limiting? Select Formula
Editor and string together your own formula: Click the function
button to insert an operator, and then click on other cells in the Color-coding makes the Table and Formula Editor tools
table to add them to the equation. surprisingly easy to work with.

5
Spam Your Whole Address Book
To create your own personalized-form-letter factory, start
by prepping your Address Book (/Applications/Address
Book). Make sure all of the contacts you want to spam have
the First Name field (or whatever field you want to merge data
from) filled in. In Pages, type the first line of your form letter: Nothing
Dear Butthead. Highlight Butthead and click the Inspector’s Link screams
icon to access the Link Inspector, and then click the Merge tab. indifference
Click the box labeled Enable As An Address Book Field, click like a carefully
the Recipient Field radio button, and pick your poison from the personalized
Type and Field pull-down menus. To add recipients’ first names, form letter.
select Name and First. Repeat the process for other fields you’d
like to merge in. To pipe in the data, open Address Book and
drag in a contact’s card. When you’re ready for some big-league
spamming, create a Group in Address Book, and drag in the
whole enchilada—Pages will ask if you’d like to send the merged
letters directly to your printer or create a new Pages document Where shall
with each recipient’s personalized letter in its own section of I send your
the document. Your call. merge, sir?
Niko Coucouvanis takes back all the bad things he said about Pages
when version 1.0 came out. Well, most of the bad things he said. May 2006 67
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76 MAY/06 Mac Shop


Mac Shop MAY/06 77
vv t

78
tell us how you really feel

LETTERS female athlete is being chased


as she hurls a sledgehammer
into a giant screen—only this
BIRD BRAIN
My sister’s bird Jedi always feels the force when she is
OFF COLOR time, the hammer is sucked using her iMac. She is, however, a hunt-and-peck typist.
I noticed in your “Microsoft into the image. The dictator —Paula Paradis
Office Tricks” story (Mar/06, starts to laugh sardonically
p28) that Max was green! as the Thought Police arrest
Poor guy. I just wanted to the athlete and take her away.
make sure that he’s better Steve Jobs has gone over to
now and let him know how the Dark Side.—Doug Robb
much of a trooper he is for Take a deep breath, Doug,
going to the photo shoot and repeat after me. “It’s
so sick—that’s dedication. just a chip. It’s just a chip.
I know there’s no one It’s just a chip.” There, feel
like that in the Windows better?—Max
world.—sinclair_tm via the
MacAddict.com forums THE END OF THE M-A-E T-H-A F-O-R-S B-E-E W-I-T-H Y-O-O.
AFFAIR, PART II
I was a little disappointed in
your last survey (see “Survey .com/hotlist, the new home shipping and handling). All
Says,” below). You didn’t of our Hot List product kidding aside, when we said
offer the option for never. recommendifier.—Max iSale was the only eBay app
—M. J. Pete for the Mac, we erred, which
Smiling on the outside; iSALE FOR SALE? is apparently human—but we
dying on the inside. AW, SHUCKS Your review of iSale still like iSale.—Max
I read your commentary ( Mar/06, p50)
A word of advice: If you buy online at www.macaddict. says it’s the only eBay
a chicken-salad sandwich com every day. I think you’re app for the Mac. Well, not
at the Microsoft cafeteria pithy and smart, and your only is it not the only eBay
and find yourself thinking take on the day’s events app for the Mac, it’s not
it looks a bit bluish, it’s and news is top-notch in its even the best eBay app
probably not because of subtlety and style. Thanks for the Mac. GarageSale
the funky lighting.—Max for making my day, and for (www.iwascoding.com) is
giving me something to look far better and only costs
THE END OF forward to at lunch time. $24.99. How much did iSale
THE AFFAIR —Michael Garner pay you for the review?
I have had a love affair with Aw, thanks Michael—though —Dave Wilson Looking to offload your editorial
the Mac since 1986—but I do hope you really meant iSale was outbid in the final
�������

integrity? Try GarageSale.


now, an Intel chip is going “pithy,” and you don’t merely minute by one Josephine
in a Mac. How can this be? have a lisp. By the way, the Mungespittle of Chagrin BUILD-IN ERROR
I can see the new Apple next time you’re on our site, Falls, Ohio, who purchased Plug your server into a KVM
commercial now: A young check out www.macaddict our review for $17.50 (plus switch, and your G5 will give
you an interesting error. I’m
not quite sure where your

Survey WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO BUY AN INTEL-BASED MAC? “build-in” keyboard actually
is, but Apple may want to
��������

20% I’m pulling out


Says
12% I’m waiting check its grammar and
my checkbook as soon until my favorite hardware definitions.
as my budget allows. apps run natively —Chris Buckle
Here are the results on Intel chips. Oh, Apple—you could learn a
of our January 2006 20% I plan to thing or two from MacAddict,
survey. Check out buy one sometime where we never accidentally
www.macaddict.com
7% I’m waiting
misspell words!—Max
this year. until the Intel-based
each month for a
Power Macs come
��������

new online poll.


41% I’m in no out later this year.
rush—my current
Mac is just fine. Hey, wait, isn’t that my tux?

78 May 2006
����
WRITE TO US!
MacAddict, 4000 Shoreline Court, Ste. 400,
FOR CD PROBLEMS:
go to www.futureus-inc.com 79
South San Francisco, CA 94080 FOR SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES:
or letters@macaddict.com call (toll-free) 888-771-6222

MOOT, MEET FOUTH

WIN!
upgrade, and I discovered
On page 78 of the Mar/06 that Apple doesn’t offer an
issue, there’s a pie chart upgrade price like most other
labeled “What’s your software companies do. My
biggest worry about Apple’s advice: If Apple wants PC
switch to Intel processors?” types to keep migrating to
One of the worries reads, Macs, consider offering a
“21%: Current apps will run reduced upgrade price. PC Harman Multimedia’s new JBL On Time ($299.95, www.jbl.com)
dog-slow in Rossetta.” On folks are accustomed to this not only looks great; its JBL Phoenix and Ridge transducers
the next page is a reference courtesy.—Len Fedullo assure that it sounds great, too. Use its clock radio to wake up,
to Roseanne Rosannadanna. or plug in your ’Pod for more music choices—you can even hook
I submit it should read MIGHT AS it up to your Mac to sync your tunes through the JBL On Time’s
Rosseanne Rossannadanna. WELL FACE IT charging dock. Want it? Just write the best caption to the photo
Consistency. Smile. I was reading your Mar/06 below, and it’s yours.
—Curt Scott issue and enjoying the iDate Only one entry per contestant.
Ass I jusst ssaid, review (Shut Down, p80). I
Misster Sscott, we never noticed on the “Sensation Entry Form
accidentally misssspell Intense” package the text
wordss. We alwayss do it “L337 H4XORS H4V3 S4L3
on purposse.—Max S3X!” That’s Leet for “ELITE
Write a caption
HACKERS HAVE SALE SEX!”
for this picture.
UPGRADE UPROAR Is this intentional? Or are you
I switched to a Mac three L337 M4C H4X0RS over there
years ago and never looked playing a joke on us?
CONTESTANT INFORMATION
back, but Apple’s software- —Adam McClellan
Full Name:
upgrade policy stinks. In No joke, Adam. These days,
Address:
January 2006, I purchased everyone’s preaching about
City: State:
iLife ’05. Two weeks later, safe sex—that’s why we here
Zip:
iLife ’06 came out, so I at MacAddict have decided
Email or telephone:
called Apple to find out how to focus on how freakin’
much it would cost me to expensive is it.—Max Send email entries to: contest@macaddict.com with the subject: JBL Contest
(Don’t forget to include your address information!)
Send snail-mail entries to: JBL Contest, MacAddict magazine,
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080.
Deadline for entry: May 31, 2006.
QUARANTINE Contest results will appear in our Sep/06 issue.

IMAGE (“WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY,” JACK ALBERTSON, 1971, PARAMOUNT I.V.) COURTESY OF MPTV
Is what I’m hearing true? Has the first OS X virus really been Contest Rules The judges will be MacAddict editors and will base their decision on 33 percent humor, 33 percent
originality, and 33 percent creativity. All entries must be received no later than May 31, 2006, with the winner
discovered?—L. Murphy announced around September 2006. By entering this contest, you agree that Future US, Inc. may use your name,
likeness, and Web site for promotional purposes without further payment. All prizes will be awarded, and no minimum
Well, that depends on how you define virus, but two pieces of number of entries is required. If two or more people enter identical winning captions, the entry received first will be

malware—malicious software—showed up in mid-February. awarded the contest prize. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to their parents or legal guardians. Future US, Inc. is
not responsible for damages or expenses the winners might incur as a result of this contest or the receipt of a prize,
The first was Leap-A (or Oompa-Loompa, which we find far and winners are responsible for income taxes based on the value of the prize received. A list of winners may also be
obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Future US, Inc. c/o MacAddict Contest, 4000 Shoreline
cuter), which was actually a trojan horse; trojans pretend Court - Suite 400, South San Francisco CA 94080. This contest is limited to residents of the United States. No purchase
necessary, void in Arizona, Maryland, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law.
to be something they’re not (an image file, in this case) and
require you to actively unleash them yourself. The second was
OSX.Inqtana.A, a worm; unlike trojans, worms can replicate
themselves—in this Winner! Congratulations
to Mathew
case through your Kaufman, whose cleverness won him
Mac’s Bluetooth a Fujitsu ScanSnap ($495, http://
connection. But scansnap.fujitsu.com), and a special
Apple closed that honorable historical mention to the
Bluetooth loophole dozens of you who riffed on “Four
in a June 2005 cores and seven years (or, in a few “I think I’m going to spring for
software update, cases, beers) ago…” the Granny Smith upgrade.”
so if you’ve stayed
Volume 11, Issue 5
on top of Software MacAddict (ISSN 1088-548X) is published 12 times a year by Future US, Inc., 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San
Francisco, CA 94080. Periodicals Postage Paid at South San Francisco, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Newsstand
Update’s security- distribution is handled by Curtis Circulation Co. Basic subscription rates: one year (12 issues + 12 CD-ROMs) U.S. $39.90,
Canada $43.95, U.S. prepaid funds only. Canadian price includes postage and GST 128220688. IPM 0962392. Outside the
related releases, U.S. and Canada, price is $53.95, U.S. prepaid funds only. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MacAddict, P.O. Box
5126, Harlan, IA 51593-0626. Future US, Inc. also publishes Maximum PC, PC Gamer, Official Xbox Magazine, PSM, Guitar
you should be just World, Guitar One, Guitar World Acoustic, Bass Guitar, Guitar Legends, Future Music, Future Snowboarding, Snowboard Journal,
Snowboard Trade News, Skateboard Trade News, and Scrapbook Answers. Entire contents copyright 2006, Future US, Inc.. All
They’re coming to get you. fine.—Max rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. Future US, Inc. is not affiliated with the companies or products
covered in MacAddict. Ride-Along enclosure in the following edition(s): A3, B, B1, B2, B3. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA. Publications Mail Agreement #40043631. Returns: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor ON N9A 6J3

May 2006 79
80 SHUT DOWN
don’t let the back page hit you on the way out

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